A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Initial Literature Regarding COVID-19 Symptoms in Children in the United States.
Celeste M Schultz, Larisa A Burke, Denise A Kent
PMID 36948964WHAT IT FOUND
In US children seeking medical care early in the pandemic, fever was the most common symptom, reported in 95%.
Gastrointestinal and breathing symptoms were also common. Thirteen deaths were reported among 484 children.
Key findings
01Fever was the most common symptom, reported in 95% of children seeking medical care.
02Respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms were common, reported in 52.0% and 61.5% of children.
03Thirteen deaths were reported across the included studies.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Most included patients were already hospitalized or seeking hospital care, so the symptom rates may not represent mild cases in the community. Fourteen of the 23 studies were case reports or case series with 10 or fewer patients, so the pooled estimates rest partly on very small samples. Symptom reporting was inconsistent across studies, and some symptoms could be estimated only in a subset. The studies were from early in the pandemic, February to June 2020, and may not reflect later variants or care patterns. Race and ethnicity were not reported consistently, so differences between groups could not be examined. The paper did not do sensitivity analyses, and heterogeneity was high for many symptoms and outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these symptom rates as a way to diagnose COVID-19 in all children. Most patients were already in hospital care, and symptoms overlapped with influenza, RSV, and gastroenteritis.