a comparative evaluation of the clinical course, laboratory data and chest ct scan findings in pediatric patients with covid-19 and their prognostic value in disease outcome estimation

Background: most research on children and adolescents with covid-19, had limited sample sizes and little clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings. the purpose of this research was to examine the features of children and adolescents with covid-19 infection. methods: this analytical retrospective study was conducted on children (1 to 12 years old) and adolescents (13 to 19 years old) with covid-19 in shahid beheshti hospital, kashan, iran. the data were then collected, entered into spss and analyzed. results: in the adolescent group, the frequency of dyspnea (47.1 % vs. 11.9%), cough (67.1 % vs. 39.2%), lethargy (42.9 % vs. 25.9%), headache (35.7 % vs. 10.5%), myalgia (38.6 % vs. 14%), and chest pain (12.9 % vs. 0.7%) were significantly higher than those in children (p<0.05). furthermore, in terms of laboratory findings, the normal range of neutrophils (13.8% vs. 1.4%), cr (95% vs. 75.7%), and crp (77.9% vs. 58%) were higher in children. moreover, we found that the ct severity score among adolescent patients was significantly higher than that in children (4.84 ± 5.21 vs. 1.76 ± 3.25, p=0.006). also, the frequency of consolidation (61.3 % vs. 19%), and ground-glass opacity (58.1 % vs. 28.6%) among adolescents were significantly higher compared to child cases (p<0.05) while only the frequency of mosaic pattern of pulmonary parenchymal attenuation was significantly higher among children (p=0.035). conclusion: this research found milder clinical, biochemical, and radiological symptoms in children with covid-19 than adolescents. however, radiological examinations showed greater rates of pulmonary parenchymal mosaic attenuation, which might help early diagnosis of covid-19.