Evaluation Of Clinical, Laboratory And Radiological Findings In
Pediatric Covid-19 Cases And Their Relation With RT-PCR Result
Background: The pandemic of the new coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) continues to be a major health problem globally. In this
study, clinical findings, radiological findings, laboratory findings and
polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results were evaluated according to
age groups in pediatric patients with COVID-19.
Methods: In this study, PCR (+) and PCR (-) 278 cases diagnosed
with COVID-19 between March 15, 2020 and September 30, 2020 were
assessed considering clinical symptoms, radiological and laboratory
findings and RT-PCR test results.
Results: 43.9% of the cases consisted of RT-PCR (+) and 56.1%
of RT-PCR (-) cases. Fever was observed at the rate of 64.7%, cough
53.2%, respiratory distress 12.2%, myalgia 24.5%, diarrhea 12.9%,
chest X-ray findings 48.2% and computed tomography findings 43.6%.
Diarrhea and cough, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate
aminotransferase, leukocyte and lymphocyte elevation were determined as
significantly higher in younger age group cases, while high myalgia and
neutrophilia was observed in older age group children (p
<0.05). Fever, high CRP, leukocytosis frequency, high
neutrophil, were significantly higher in PCR(-) cases and the frequency
of respiratory distress, high lymphocyte and chest computed tomography
findings in PCR(+) cases (p <0.05).
Conclusion: COVID-19 infection may indicate different
nonspecific clinical, laboratory and radiological findings in children
according to both adults and pediatric age groups. In addition, the
results of the PCR test may give erroneous results in cases due to
conditions such as fever, respiratory distress, high CRP, leukocytosis,
high neutrophil and CT finding.
Keywords: pediatric, COVID-19, RT-PCR