COVID-19 in hospitalized Ethiopian children: characteristics and outcome profile.

Introduction: considering the number of people affected and the burden to the health care system due to the coronavirus pandemic, there is still a gap in understanding the disease better leaving a space for new evidence to be filled by researchers. This scarcity of evidence is observed especially among children with the virus. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the characteristics and outcome profile of children with COVID-19 admitted to Millennium COVID-19 Care Center in Ethiopia.

Methods: a prospective cohort study was conducted among 90 children with COVID-19 who were admitted from June 23 to September 17, 2020. Data were summarized using frequency tables, mean ± standard deviation or median with inter quartile range values. A chi-square test/Fischer´s exact test was used to compare disease severity between groups.

Results: the median age of the participants was 15 years and 57 were females. The most common reported route of disease transmission was through close contact with a diagnosed person (41/90). Only three had a history of pre-existing comorbid illness. One-third (31/90) had one or more symptoms at diagnosis, the most common being cough (20/90). Among the 90 patients, 59 were asymptomatic, 14 had mild disease and the rest 17 had moderate disease. Based on the chi-square/Fischer´s exact test result, no statistically significant difference was observed between the age groups and sex.

Conclusion: pediatric patients seemed to have a milder disease presentation and a favorable outcome compared to other countries report and also the adult pattern observed in our country.