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What you need to know about children's COVID-19: a systematic review
Majid Mohammed Mahmood1, Ilhama Jafarli2, Aras Fathi Al-Barazanchi3
1Unit of Zoonotic Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Baghdad, Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq.
Insights
Children experience milder coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and are less susceptible due to immune response differences. Research explores pediatric COVID-19 clinical features, diagnosis, and viral shedding, though mechanisms remain unclear.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric infectious diseases
- Immunology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents differently in children compared to adults.
- Understanding pediatric susceptibility and immune responses is crucial for public health.
- Existing research highlights milder symptoms in pediatric COVID-19 cases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review the clinical features of COVID-19 in children.
- To investigate reasons for lower susceptibility and potentially enhanced immune response in pediatric populations.
- To address clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and viral shedding duration in children with COVID-19.
Main Methods:
- Systematic literature search across major databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane).
- Inclusion of relevant foreign literature and supplementary data from Google Scholar and professional societies.
- Extraction of data on patient demographics, comorbidities, treatments, mortality, and morbidity.
Main Results:
- Children exhibit lower susceptibility to COVID-19 compared to adults.
- Clinical symptoms of COVID-19 are generally less severe in pediatric cases.
- The precise immunological mechanisms underlying these differences are not yet fully elucidated.
Conclusions:
- Children are less affected by COVID-19, presenting with milder symptoms.
- While theories exist, the exact reasons for reduced pediatric susceptibility and severity require further investigation.
- Further research is needed to fully understand the immune mechanisms in pediatric COVID-19.
Abstract:
The aim of the systematic review is to describe clinical features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in children with a focus on the possible reasons why children are less susceptible to COVID-19 and whether their immune response works better than adults. The three research questions below were determined. (1) Why do pediatric COVID-19 cases have milder clinical symptoms than adults? (2) What are clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19 in children? (3) How long lasts viral shedding after recovery? We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Cochrane Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, as well as foreign literature with English translations. Extra information and data have been collected from Google Scholar and the American Society for Microbiology. Information on patients' age, comorbidities, methods of treatment, and effects on mortality and morbidity were extracted. It is concluded that children are less susceptible to COVID-19 than adults and that the symptoms in children are less severe than in adults. A low incidence of COVID-19 in children and milder disease than in adults might be attributed to many theories and reasons; however, the mechanisms involved are not fully understood.
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