Comparison of RT-PCR, lung CT Scan, and Anti-COVID-19 Antibody Results in Hospitalized Children Suspected for COVID-19

Background: mild symptoms of covid-19 in children may lead to delayed or misdiagnosis. reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) is an approved laboratory method for detecting covid-19 virus. given that covid-19 is considered an emerging disease, its diagnostic methods in children have not yet been well compared. therefore, this study was designed to compare rt-pcr, lung ct scan, and anti-covid-19 antibody results in hospitalized children suspected for covid-19. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted on patients less than 18 years of age, suspected fot covid-19, and admitted to shahid sadoughi hospital in yazd, iran, from february 2020 to february 2021. all hospitalized children who had suspected covid-19 based on their initial clinical symptoms or signs, and had undergone rt-pcr were included in the study. demographic data such as age, sex, contact history with covid-19 patients, clinical manifestations, outcome, comorbidities, and information on other paraclinical procedures were collected by checklist. results: in total, 53.3% of the patients were male, and 59% were under five years old. the most common symptom was fever (81%), followed by respiratory distress (34.3%) and diarrhea (26.7%), and cough (19%). additionally, a significant relationship was observed between respiratory symptoms and a positive pcr test (p = 0.020) and positive lung ct findings (p = 0.017). this study failed to find a significant association between pcr, chest ct scan, and anti-covid-19 antibody results with icu admission, endotracheal intubation, and death (p>0.05). conclusions: our findings showed a significant association between respiratory symptoms, positive rt- pcr, and positive ct findings. but icu admission, endotracheal intubation, and death were not significantly correlated with pcr, chest ct scan, and anti-covid-19 antibodies.