covid-19 in children: clinical presentations and outcomes in fayoum governorate, egypt

Background: the number of children with coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) significantly increased with limited data available about egyptian children infected with covid-19. objectives: the study was performed early in the pandemic to address and record different clinical presentations of covid-19 in egyptian children in fayoum governorate and determine the percentage of children with complicated covid-19 infection. the present article describes some epidemiological characteristics, along with the clinical patterns, laboratory and radiological findings, and outcomes of pediatric patients with covid-19 in fayoum governorate. methods: a total of 200 egyptian children with covid-19 in fayoum governorate were included in this study. this study was conducted from the beginning of june 2020 to the end of october 2020. in this study, 192 children (96%) had a history of contact with either suspected or confirmed covid-19 cases in relatives. the age, gender, clinical symptoms, signs, and laboratory results were estimated. results: about a tenth of the patients (n = 19; 9.5%) were asymptomatic. fever and diarrhea were the most common symptoms at presentation, as it was identified in 81 children (40.5%). lymphopenia was observed in 46.5% of the patients. the majority of the patients with respiratory symptoms had normal findings in chest x-rays (92.5%). chest opacity was reported in 11 patients (5.5%). according to chest computed tomography, bilateral ground-glass opacity was identified in 16 patients (8.0%). five hospitalized cases (2.5%) developed severe non-respiratory complications. one death was reported in this study. conclusions: the covid-19 can affect children at any age with variable presentations ranging from asymptomatic to severe symptomatic phenotypes requiring intensive care interventions.