INTRODUCTION
The outbreak of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to be a
major global health problem that emerged in Wuhan Province, China in
late December, turned into a pandemic within a few months and caused
many deaths despite many worldwide measures (1,2) Although COVID-19
infection usually presents with symptoms such as fever, cough,
respiratory distress, myalgia, and diarrhea in children and adults, it
mostly progresses less in children compared to adults, and radiological
and laboratory findings may be different in children and adults (3,4).
Early diagnosis of COVID-19 infection in children is significant not
only for the health of children, but also for preventing the risk of
transmission to adults. Although many diagnostic tests are being used
for the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection throughout the world, RT-PCR
test is accepted as the most reliable laboratory diagnosis method, but
the average accuracy of the PCR test is around 40-60% depending on many
factors (5). Therefore, clinical findings, radiological findings and
laboratory tests have an important place in the diagnosis and follow-up
of COVID-19, especially in pediatric patients (6,7). 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 who were followed up with the diagnosis
of COVID-19 with PCR (+) or PCR (-).