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COVID-19 in children: analysis of the first pandemic peak in England.

Ladhani, SN; Amin-Chowdhury, Z; Davies, HG; Aiano, F; Hayden, I; Lacy, J; Sinnathamby, M; de Lusignan, S; Demirjian, A; Whittaker, H; et al. Ladhani, SN; Amin-Chowdhury, Z; Davies, HG; Aiano, F; Hayden, I; Lacy, J; Sinnathamby, M; de Lusignan, S; Demirjian, A; Whittaker, H; Andrews, N; Zambon, M; Hopkins, S; Ramsay, ME (2020) COVID-19 in children: analysis of the first pandemic peak in England. Arch Dis Child, 105 (102). pp. 1180-1185. ISSN 1468-2044 https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-320042
SGUL Authors: Davies, Hannah Georgia

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Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To assess disease trends, testing practices, community surveillance, case-fatality and excess deaths in children as compared with adults during the first pandemic peak in England. SETTING: England. PARTICIPANTS: Children with COVID-19 between January and May 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Trends in confirmed COVID-19 cases, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positivity rates in children compared with adults; community prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in children with acute respiratory infection (ARI) compared with adults, case-fatality rate in children with confirmed COVID-19 and excess childhood deaths compared with the previous 5 years. RESULTS: Children represented 1.1% (1,408/129,704) of SARS-CoV-2 positive cases between 16 January 2020 and 3 May 2020. In total, 540 305 people were tested for SARS-COV-2 and 129,704 (24.0%) were positive. In children aged <16 years, 35,200 tests were performed and 1408 (4.0%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2, compared to 19.1%-34.9% adults. Childhood cases increased from mid-March and peaked on 11 April before declining. Among 2,961 individuals presenting with ARI in primary care, 351 were children and 10 (2.8%) were positive compared with 9.3%-45.5% in adults. Eight children died and four (case-fatality rate, 0.3%; 95% CI 0.07% to 0.7%) were due to COVID-19. We found no evidence of excess mortality in children. CONCLUSIONS: Children accounted for a very small proportion of confirmed cases despite the large numbers of children tested. SARS-CoV-2 positivity was low even in children with ARI. Our findings provide further evidence against the role of children in infection and transmission of SARS-CoV-2.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
Keywords: epidemiology, virology, Pediatrics, 1103 Clinical Sciences, 1114 Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine, 1117 Public Health and Health Services
SGUL Research Institute / Research Centre: Academic Structure > Infection and Immunity Research Institute (INII)
Journal or Publication Title: Arch Dis Child
ISSN: 1468-2044
Language: eng
Dates:
DateEvent
20 November 2020Published
12 August 2020Published Online
23 July 2020Accepted
Publisher License: Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0
PubMed ID: 32796006
Go to PubMed abstract
URI: https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/112296
Publisher's version: https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-320042

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