MedPage Today: More Insight on Which Kids Are Most at Risk for Severe COVID-19

By Zaina Hamza

Certain underlying medical conditions, as well as complex chronic illnesses exacerbated the risk for severe COVID-19 in children, researchers found in a cross-sectional study.

The strongest risk factors for COVID-19 hospitalization included type I diabetes (adjusted risk ratio 4.60, 95% CI 3.91-5.42) and obesity (aRR 3.07, 95% CI 2.66-3.54), reported Lyudmyla Kompaniyets, PhD, and colleagues from the CDC.

Type I diabetes (aRR 2.38, 95% CI 2.06-2.76), cardiac and circulatory congenital anomalies (aRR 1.72, 95% CI 1.48-1.99), and epilepsy and/or convulsions (aRR, 1.71, 95% CI 1.41-2.08) were strong risk factors for developing severe COVID-19 illness, the authors wrote in JAMA Network Open.

Chronic disease (aRR 1.95, 95% CI 1.69-2.26) and complex chronic disease (aRR 2.86, 95% CI 2.47-3.32, respectively) were also risk factors for severe COVID-19 illness in children, they noted.

"Throughout this pandemic, pediatric practitioners have been making decisions extrapolated from adult data [...] To provide the best care for children, we need pediatric-specific data," Jennifer Schuster, MD, of Children's Mercy Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri and Annabelle de St Maurice, MD, of University of California, Los Angeles, stated in an accompanying editorial.

Read the full article via MedPage Today

Find more information about COVID-19 from Children's Mercy