Children with cancer pass it gently COVID-19 and fully recover, while one in ten will need an ICU

Most children and adolescents with cancer are mildly ill with it COVID-19 and have a full recovery then, according to a small international survey. However, pediatric cancer patients who have other underlying health problems (comorbidities), severe infections (mainly bacterial), and low white blood cells (indication for immunosuppression) are significantly more likely to have severe COVID-19. About one in ten children will need to be admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU).

Researchers at Goethe University in Frankfurt and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia, published in the European Journal of Cancer, looked at data from 131 children under the age of 19 diagnosed with coronavirus in ten countries and who had also been diagnosed with cancer (60% leukemia / lymphoma and 37% solid tumor) or had had a bone marrow stem cell transplant. It was found that one third of children (32%) with COVID-19 were asymptomatic, 47% had very few to mild symptoms, 8% had moderate severity COVID-19, while 4% had heavy Covid-19 and 9% critical to their lives.

37% needed hospitalization, 11% ICU admission and four children (3%) died, while 95% fully recovered. One-third of children with cancer who were on anti-cancer treatment when they became ill with coronavirus needed to have their chemotherapy delayed or their doses adjusted.

The researchers found it important that these changes were not associated with a reduced risk of serious COVID-19. There was no difference in the percentage of children with symptomatic infection COVID-19 between those who had received anti-cancer treatment and those who had completed it when they became infected with the coronavirus.

The most common symptoms COVID-19 in children with cancer were fever (71%), cough (47%), runny nose-rhinitis (29%) and gastrointestinal disorders. The median duration of infection was 16 days, although in some children the coronavirus could be detected up to 80 days after the initial diagnosis of infection.

Children with cancer or a related history are a priority group for vaccination. Most infections COVID-19 In these patients, according to the researchers, they occur within their family with transmission of the coronavirus from another member, so the whole family or other caregivers should be vaccinated.

KYPE