Seventy-one percent of children with the multisystem inflammatory syndrome linked to COVID-19 were admitted to the intensive care unit, a new review shows.
Published in EClinicalMedicine, the review analyzes 39 observational studies about multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children published between Jan. 1 and July 25. The studies include 662 pediatric patients.
Here are eight other study findings:
1. More than 22 percent of the patients needed mechanical ventilation.
2. Eleven (1.7 percent) of the patients died.
3. Nearly 85 percent of the children tested positive for COVID-19.
4. Data on race/ethnicity was provided for 71.1 percent of the patients, and children from African American, Afro-Caribbean or African race/ethnicity represented 34.8 percent of the studied population.
5. Average length of hospital stay for the patients was about eight days.
6. Fever (100 percent), abdominal pain/diarrhea (73.7 percent) and vomiting (68.3 percent) were the most common symptoms reported.
7. Cardiac markers and troponin levels were extremely elevated.
8. An abnormal echocardiograph was observed in 54 percent of the patients.