scholarly journals Clinical characteristics, treatment and outcomes of paediatric COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. archdischild-2020-321385
Author(s):  
Omar Irfan ◽  
Fiona Muttalib ◽  
Kun Tang ◽  
Li Jiang ◽  
Zohra S Lassi ◽  
...  

ObjectiveCompare paediatric COVID-19 disease characteristics, management and outcomes according to World Bank country income level and disease severity.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.SettingBetween 1 December 2019 and 8 January 2021, 3350 articles were identified. Two reviewers conducted study screening, data abstraction and quality assessment independently and in duplicate. Observational studies describing laboratory-confirmed paediatric (0–19 years old) COVID-19 were considered for inclusion.Main outcomes and measuresThe pooled proportions of clinical findings, treatment and outcomes were compared according to World Bank country income level and reported disease severity.Results129 studies were included from 31 countries comprising 10 251 children of which 57.4% were hospitalised. Mean age was 7.0 years (SD 3.6), and 27.1% had a comorbidity. Fever (63.3%) and cough (33.7%) were common. Of 3670 cases, 44.1% had radiographic abnormalities. The majority of cases recovered (88.9%); however, 96 hospitalised children died. Compared with high-income countries, in low-income and middle-income countries, a lower proportion of cases were admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) (9.9% vs 26.0%) yet pooled proportion of deaths among hospitalised children was higher (relative risk 2.14, 95% CI 1.43 to 3.20). Children with severe disease received antimicrobials, inotropes and anti-inflammatory agents more frequently than those with non-severe disease. Subgroup analyses showed that a higher proportion of children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) were admitted to ICU (47.1% vs 22.9%) and a higher proportion of hospitalised children with MIS-C died (4.8% vs 3.6%) compared with the overall sample.ConclusionPaediatric COVID-19 has a favourable prognosis. Further severe disease characterisation in children is needed globally.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. e000662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Brown ◽  
Antti Juhani Kukka ◽  
Andreas Mårtensson

BackgroundDespite advances in vaccination and case management, pneumonia remains the single largest contributor to early child mortality worldwide. Zinc has immune-enhancing properties, but its role in adjunctive treatment of pneumonia in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) is controversial and research still active.MethodsSystematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of zinc and placebo in pneumonia in children aged 2 to 60 months in LMICs. Databases included MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, LILACS, SciELO, the WHO portal, Scopus, Google Scholar and ClinicalTrials.gov. Inclusion criteria included accepted signs of pneumonia and clear measure of outcome. Risk of bias was independently assessed by two authors. ORs with 95% CI were used for calculating the pooled estimate of dichotomous outcomes including treatment failure and mortality. Time to recovery was expressed as HRs. Sensitivity analyses considering risk of bias and subgroup analyses for pneumonia severity were performed.ResultsWe identified 11 trials published between 2004 and 2019 fulfilling the a priori defined criteria, 7 from South Asia and 3 from Africa and 1 from South America. Proportional treatment failure was comparable in both zinc and placebo groups when analysed for all patients (OR 0.95 (95% CI 0.80 to 1.14)) and only for those with severe pneumonia (OR 0.93 (95% CI 0.75 to 1.14)). No difference was seen in mortality between zinc and placebo groups (OR 0.64 (95% CI 0.31 to 1.31)). Time to recovery from severe pneumonia did not differ between the treatment and control groups for patients with severe pneumonia (HR 1.01 (95% CI 0.89 to 1.14)). Removal of four studies with high risk of bias made no difference to the conclusions.ConclusionThere is no evidence that adjunctive zinc treatment improves recovery from pneumonia in children in LMICs.Trial registration numberCRD42019141602.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela C Fuhr ◽  
Clara Calvert ◽  
Carine Ronsmans ◽  
Prabha S Chandra ◽  
Siham Sikander ◽  
...  

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. e043705
Author(s):  
Anke Rohwer ◽  
Jeannine Uwimana Nicol ◽  
Ingrid Toews ◽  
Taryn Young ◽  
Charlotte M Bavuma ◽  
...  

ObjectivesTo assess the effects of integrated models of care for people with multimorbidity including at least diabetes or hypertension in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) on health and process outcomes.DesignSystematic review.Data sourcesWe searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, LILACS, Africa-Wide, CINAHL and Web of Science up to 12 December 2019.Eligibility criteriaWe included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), non-RCTs, controlled before-and-after studies and interrupted time series (ITS) studies of people with diabetes and/or hypertension plus any other disease, in LMICs; assessing the effects of integrated care.Data extraction and synthesisTwo authors independently screened retrieved records; extracted data and assessed risk of bias. We conducted meta-analysis where possible and assessed certainty of evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation.ResultsOf 7568 records, we included five studies—two ITS studies and three cluster RCTs. Studies were conducted in South Africa (n=3), Uganda/Kenya (n=1) and India (n=1). Integrated models of care compared with usual care may make little or no difference to mortality (very low certainty), the number of people achieving blood pressure (BP) or diabetes control (very low certainty) and access to care (very low certainty); may increase the number of people who achieve both HIV and BP/diabetes control (very low certainty); and may have a very small effect on achieving HIV control (very low certainty). Interventions to promote integrated delivery of care compared with usual care may make little or no difference to mortality (very low certainty), depression (very low certainty) and quality of life (very low certainty); and may have little or no effect on glycated haemoglobin (low certainty), systolic BP (low certainty) and total cholesterol levels (low certainty).ConclusionsCurrent evidence on the effects of integrated care on health outcomes is very uncertain. Programmes and policies on integrated care must consider context-specific factors related to health systems and populations.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42018099314.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. e024907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M Puchalski Ritchie ◽  
Monique van Lettow ◽  
Ba Pham ◽  
Sharon E Straus ◽  
Mina C Hosseinipour ◽  
...  

ObjectiveThis review was conducted to identify interventions effective in improving uptake and retention of HIV-positive mothers and their infants in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) services in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) in order to inform programme planning.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review of studies comparing usual care with any intervention to improve uptake and retention of HIV-positive pregnant or breastfeeding women and their children from birth to 2 years of age in PMTCT services in LMICs. Twenty-two electronic databases were searched from inception to 15 January 2018, for randomised, quasi-randomised and non-randomised controlled trials, and interrupted time series studies; reference lists of included articles were searched for relevant articles. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care group criteria. Random-effects meta-analysis was conducted for studies reporting similar interventions and outcomes.ResultsWe identified 29 837 articles, of which 18 studies were included in our review. Because of heterogeneity in interventions and outcome measures, only one meta-analysis of two studies and one outcome was conducted; we found a statistically significant increase in antiretroviral therapy (ART) use during pregnancy for integration of HIV and antenatal care relative to standard non-integrated care (pooled AOR=2.69; 95% CI 1.25 to 5.78, p=0.0113). The remaining studies assessing other patient, provider or health system interventions were synthesised narratively, with small effects seen across intervention categories for both maternal and infant PMTCT outcomes based predominately on evidence with moderate to high risk of bias.ConclusionsEvidence on the effectiveness of interventions to improve uptake and retention of mothers and infants in PMTCT care is lacking. Our findings suggest that integration of HIV and antenatal care may improve ART use during pregnancy. Future studies to replicate promising approaches are needed. Improved reporting of key methodological criteria will facilitate interpretation of findings and improve the utility of evidence to PMTCT programme planners.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42015020829.


The Lancet ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 393 (10184) ◽  
pp. 1973-1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soha Sobhy ◽  
David Arroyo-Manzano ◽  
Nilaani Murugesu ◽  
Gayathri Karthikeyan ◽  
Vinoth Kumar ◽  
...  

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