Children with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19): A Review of Demographic, Clinical, Laboratory and Imaging Features in 2,597 Pediatric Patients

Abstract

An epidemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has been spreading worldwide. With the rapid increase in the number of infections, children with COVID‐19 appear to be rising. Most research findings regarding adult cases, which are not always transferrable to children. Evidence‐based studies are still expected to formulate clinical decisions for pediatric patients. In this review, we evaluated the demographic, clinical, laboratory and imaging features from 2,597 pediatric patients of COVID‐19 that reported recently. We found that even lymphopenia was the most common lab finding in adults, it infrequently occurred in children (9.8%). Moreover, elevated creatine kinase MB isoenzyme (CK‐MB) was much more commonly observed in children (27.0%) than that in adults, suggesting that heart injury would be more likely to happen in pediatric patients. Our analysis may contribute to determine the spectrum of disease in children, as well as to develop strategies to control the disease transmission.