An international study of children who contracted COVID-19 has identified about 3 percent of the participants it followed developed severe outcomes within two weeks of their hospital visit.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, had over 10,000 youth participate from 41 hospitals and 10 countries, including New Zealand, Australia and the United States.
Of the 10,000 participants, 3221 of them tested positive for COVID-19 from March 2020 to June 2021.
Of those who tested positive, 735 were hospitalised for treatment and 107 experienced severe outcomes within two weeks of their visit to an emergency department. Four children died.
Severe outcomes included cardiac complications and neurologic, respiratory or infectious problems.
Those over the age of five years with pre-existing conditions and those who were admitted to hospital four to seven days after symptom onset were at a higher risk of getting seriously ill.
Among the youth who tested positive for COVID-19, 2510 were not hospitalised and experienced severe outcomes within two weeks of leaving the emergency department.
A total of 320 of those returned to a clinic or hospital for care within the 14 days because of new, worsening or persistent symptoms.
"The study sought to quantify the frequency of and risk factors for severe outcomes in children with COVID-19," says study co-lead Dr Stephen Freedman, a paediatrician and professor at the Cumming School of Medicine.
"We found that older age, having a pre-existing chronic condition and symptom duration were important risk factors for severe outcomes."
The study was co-led by researchers at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine, the Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and the University of California-Davis Medical Centre.
