Objective

To assess the characteristics of suspected coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) and the rate of confirmed COVID-19 in a pediatric population at the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal.

Study design

Suspected COVID-19 pediatric cases that were tested in a Portuguese hospital between March 17 and April 2 2020 were included in this descriptive retrospective study. The analyzed data included socio-demographic parameters, characteristics of the household, underlying medical conditions and symptoms.

Results

Ninety-four patients were included and all of them were symptomatic and treated without hospitalization. The most common symptoms were cough (80%;n = 75), rhinorrhea (72%;n = 68) and fever (60%;n = 56). There was only one positive for SARS-CoV-2 in a five-year-old child with mild illness without epidemiologic linkage.

Conclusion

This study showed a low rate of confirmed COVID-19 in children. The causes for this low rate can be multifactorial and illustrates how differently this virus spreads in the pediatric population.

中文翻译：

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葡萄牙儿童人群的 COVID-19 筛查

客观的

评估葡萄牙大流行开始时疑似冠状病毒病 19 (COVID-19) 的特征和儿科人群中确诊的 COVID-19 率。

学习规划

这项描述性回顾性研究包括在 2020 年 3 月 17 日至 4 月 2 日期间在葡萄牙医院进行检测的疑似 COVID-19 儿科病例。分析的数据包括社会人口参数、家庭特征、潜在的医疗条件和症状。

结果

共纳入 94 名患者，所有患者均有症状且未住院接受治疗。最常见的症状是咳嗽 (80%; n  =  75)、流鼻涕 (72%; n  =  68) 和发烧 (60%; n  =  56)。一名 5 岁儿童的 SARS-CoV-2 呈阳性，病情轻微，没有流行病学关联。

结论

这项研究表明，儿童中 COVID-19 的确诊率很低。造成这种低比率的原因可能是多方面的，并说明了这种病毒在儿科人群中的传播方式有多么不同。