ECDC Survey: What Percentage of Children with Covid-19 who needs hospitalization

Infants up to two months old and adolescents 12-17 years old are the two age groups of children most at risk of needing hospitalization after infection Covid-19, according to a study by scientists from the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC). On average, between the ages of 0-17, a child in about 100 will be admitted to hospital if they catch a coronavirus.

The researchers, who made the publication in Eurosurveillance, analyzed data from ten European countries (including Cyprus, but not Greece) for the period August 2020-October 2021 (when the new Omicron variant had not yet appeared). Of the approximately 820.000 total confirmed symptomatic cases Covid-19 in children under 17 years of age, 9.611 (1,2% or approximately one in 100) required hospitalization, 640 (0,08% of cases and almost 7% of hospitalized children) required admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) ) and 84 (0,01%) eventually died.

The researchers reported that “most children with symptomatic disease Covid-19 have a very low risk of death or hospitalization ”. For every 10.000 pediatric cases with symptoms Covid-19, it is estimated that about 117 need hospitalization, eight admitted to the ICU and one dies (based on at least what was in force before the appearance of Omicron).

The analysis concluded that the younger age group up to two months has the highest risk of hospitalization due to Covid-19. The risk then decreases by the age of nine and increases again by the age of 12 to 17.

The risk of a serious outcome Covid-19 is higher in children with underlying diseases such as cancer and diabetes. The chances of hospitalization, ICU admission and death are seven, nine and 27 times higher respectively for children with at least one comorbidity. But the vast majority (almost 84%) of children treated with Covid-19 has no underlying disease, which means that otherwise healthy children may well need hospitalization if they become infected with the coronavirus.

The researchers pointed out that after July this year, pediatric cases show a large increase, mainly due to the prevalence of Delta. What exactly will happen due to the very probable dominance of Omicron, remains to be seen. As only 15,2% of children under 18 had been fully vaccinated in Europe by the end of November (with rates ranging from just 1% to 29% per country), ECDC scientists point out that these large numbers of unvaccinated children likely to be exposed to the coronavirus, it is estimated that they will lead to an increase in the absolute number of children, both with and without underlying diseases, who will be severely Covid-19. This means that vaccination in children must be speeded up, and it can also bode well for the health system.