[Clinical characteristics of children with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in Kunming]

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of hospitalized children infected with the Omicron variant in Kunming after the withdrawal of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) and analyze the risk factors of severe cases. Methods: Clinical data was retrospectively collected from 1 145 children with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron infection who were hospitalized in six tertiary grade A hospitals in Kunming from December 10^th, 2022 to January 9^th, 2023. According to clinical severity, these patients were divided into the general and severe SARS-CoV-2 groups, and their clinical and laboratory data were compared. Between-group comparison was performed using t-test, chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test. Spearman correlation test and multivariate Logistic regression analysis were used to determine the risk factors of severe illness. Results: A total of 1 145 hospitalized patients were included, of whom 677 were male and 468 female. The age of these patients at visit was 1.7 (0.5, 4.1) years. Specifically, there were 758 patients (66.2%) aged ≤3 years at visit and 387 patients (33.8%) aged >3 years. Of these children, 89 cases (7.8%) had underline diseases and the remaining 1 056 cases (92.2%) had no combined diseases. Additionally, of all the patients, 319 cases (27.9%) were vaccinated with one or two doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, 748 cases (65.3%) had acute upper respiratory tract infection (AURTI), and six cases died (0.5%). A total of 1 051 cases (91.8%) were grouped into general SARS-CoV-2 group and 94 cases (8.2%) were grouped into severe SARS-CoV-2 group. Compared with the general cases, the severe cases showed a lower rate of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and younger median age, lower lymphocyte count, as well as proportions of CD8⁺T lymphocyte (36 cases (38.3%) vs. 283 cases (26.9%), 0.5 (2.6, 8.0) vs. 1.6 (0.5, 3.9) years, 1.3 (1.0, 2.7) ×10⁹ vs. 2.7 (1.3,4.4)×10⁹/L, 0.17 (0.12, 0.24) vs. 0.21 (0.15, 0.16), respectively, χ²=4.88, Z=-2.21,-5.03,-2.53, all P<0.05). On the other hand, the length of hospital stay, proportion of underline diseases, ALT, AST, creatine kinase isoenzyme, and troponin T were higher in the severe group compared to those in the general group ((11.6±5.9) vs. (5.3±1.8) d, 41 cases (43.6%) vs. 48 cases (4.6%), 67 (26,120) vs. 20 (15, 32) U/L, 51 (33, 123) vs. 44 (34, 58) U/L、56.9 (23.0, 219.3) vs. 3.6 (1.9, 17.9) U/L, 12.0 (4.9, 56.5) vs. 3.0 (3.0, 7.0) ×10^-3 pg/L,respectively, t=-20.43, χ²=183.52, Z=-9.14,-3.12,-6.38,-3.81, all P<0.05). Multivariate regression analysis indicated that increased leukocyte count (OR=1.88, 95%CI 1.18-2.97, P<0.01), CRP (OR=1.18, 95%CI 1.06-1.31, P<0.01), ferritin (OR=1.01, 95%CI 1.00-1.00, P<0.01), interleukin (IL)-6 (OR=1.05, 95%CI 1.01-1.08, P=0.012), D-dimer (OR=2.56, 95%CI 1.44-4.56, P<0.01) and decreased CD4⁺T lymphocyte (OR=0.84, 95%CI 0.73-0.98, P=0.030) were independently associated with the risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 in hospitalized children with Omicron infection. Conclusions: After the withdrawal of NPI, the pediatric inpatients with Omicron infection in Kunming were predominantly children younger than 3 years of age, and mainly manifested as AURTI with relatively low rate of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality. Elevated leukocyte counts, CRP, ferritin, IL-6, D-dimer, and decreased CD4⁺T lymphocytes are significant risk factors for developing severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.