More than a third of children, teens and young adults with COVID-19 in pediatric intensive care units needed to be placed on a ventilator, a new study shows.
The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics, studied 48 children with COVID-19 admitted to pediatric intensive care units in North America between March 14 and April 3. Researchers followed up with the patients through April 10. The patients' ages ranged from newborn to 21 years old.
Here are seven clinical characteristics and outcomes of the pediatric ICU patients:
1. Of the 48 children with COVID-19 admitted to pediatric ICUs, 25 were male.
2. Forty patients (83 percent) had significant preexisting conditions.
3. Thirty-five (73 percent) showed respiratory symptoms, and 18 (38 percent) required invasive ventilation.
4. Eleven patients (23 percent) had failure of two or more organ systems.
5. Targeted therapies were used for 28 of the patients (61 percent), with hydroxychloroquine being the most commonly used agent either alone or with another therapy.
6. At the end of the follow-up period, two patients had died; 15 were still hospitalized; and three remained on a ventilator.
7. Among those who were discharged, the median length of stay in the pediatric ICU was five days; median length of stay in the hospital was seven days.