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Children and COVID-19 Research Library

UNDER DEVELOPMENT UNICEF Innocenti's curated library of COVID-19 + Children research

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Journal article

Longitudinal symptom dynamics of COVID-19 infection

AUTHOR(S)
Barak Mizrahi; Smadar Shilo; Hagai Rossman (et al.)

Published: December 2020 Journal: Nature Communications

As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, obtaining information on symptoms dynamics is of essence. Here, we extracted data from primary-care electronic health records and nationwide distributed surveys to assess the longitudinal dynamics of symptoms prior to and throughout SARS-CoV-2 infection. Information was available for 206,377 individuals, including 2471 positive cases. The two datasources were discordant, with survey data capturing most of the symptoms more sensitively. The most prevalent symptoms included fever, cough and fatigue. Loss of taste and smell 3 weeks prior to testing, either self-reported or recorded by physicians, were the most discriminative symptoms for COVID-19. Additional discriminative symptoms included self-reported headache and fatigue and a documentation of syncope, rhinorrhea and fever. Children had a significantly shorter disease duration. Several symptoms were reported weeks after recovery. By a unique integration of two datasources, our study shed light on the longitudinal course of symptoms experienced by cases in primary care.

Journal article

Comparison of the characteristics, morbidity, and mortality of COVID-19 and seasonal influenza: a nationwide, population-based retrospective cohort study

AUTHOR(S)
Lionel Piroth; Jonathan Cottenet; Anne-Sophie Mariet (et al.)

Published: December 2020 Journal: The Lancet Respiratory Medicine

To date, influenza epidemics have been considered suitable for use as a model for the COVID-19 epidemic, given that they are respiratory diseases with similar modes of transmission. However, data directly comparing the two diseases are scarce. This study did a nationwide retrospective cohort study using the French national administrative database (PMSI), which includes discharge summaries for all hospital admissions in France. All patients hospitalised for COVID-19 from March 1 to April 30, 2020, and all patients hospitalised for influenza between Dec 1, 2018, and Feb 28, 2019, were included.

Research Report

Risk communication & community engagement (RCCE) Somalia COVID-19 rapid assessment survey report

Institution: Save the Children
Published: December 2020

Save the Children Somalia conducted a rapid assessment covering the entirety of Somalia between the 13th to 16th of April, 2020. The findings of the assessment will inform the defining and prioritizing of the RCCE strategy and key communication and community engagement plan; including contextualized key messages tailored to circumstances of vulnerable communities, defining key actions/activities, and tailor and test materials. Ultimately, the exercise will increase the effectiveness of our communication activities and therefore the impact of the overall response. Furthermore, meaningful participatory engagement and adapting messages to the local context and audience is also proven to lead to stronger ownership, buy-in, and commitment, as well as maintaining/increasing access, and strengthening the organization’s integrity and reputation.

Evidence Synthesis and other Reviews

Systematic review of reviews of symptoms and signs of COVID-19 in children and adolescents

AUTHOR(S)
Russell M. Viner; Joseph Lloyd Ward; Lee D. Hudson (et al.)

Published: December 2020 Journal: Archives of Disease in Childhood

This article aims to undertake a systematic review of reviews of the prevalence of symptoms and signs of COVID-19 in those aged under 20 years. Narrative systematic review of reviews. PubMed, medRxiv, Europe PMC and COVID-19 Living Evidence Database were searched on 9 October 2020.

Journal article

COVID-19 and parent intention to vaccinate their children against influenza

AUTHOR(S)
Rebeccah L. Sokol; Anna H. Grummon

Published: December 2020 Journal: Pediatrics

This article aims to evaluate if the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic influences parents’ intentions to have their children receive the 2020–2021 seasonal influenza vaccination. In May 2020, 2164 US parents and guardians of children ages 6 months to 5 years have been recruited to complete a brief online survey that examined parental behavior and decision making in response to experimental stimuli and real-world events.

Journal article

A meta-analysis on the role of children in SARS-CoV-2 in household transmission clusters

AUTHOR(S)
Yanshan Zhu; Conor J. Bloxham; Katina D. Hulme (et al.)

Published: December 2020 Journal: Clinical Infectious Diseases

The role of children in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 remains highly controversial. To address this issue, a meta-analysis of the published literature on household SARSCoV-2 transmission clusters (n=213 from 12 countries) was performed. Only 8 (3.8%) transmission clusters were identified as having a paediatric index case. Asymptomatic index cases were associated with a lower secondary attack in contacts than symptomatic index cases (estimate risk ratio [RR], 0.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.09-0.29). To determine the susceptibility of children to household infections the secondary attack rate (SAR) in paediatric household contacts was assessed. The secondary attack rate in paediatric household contacts was lower than in adult household contacts (RR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.42- 0.91). These data have important implications for the ongoing management of the COVID-19 pandemic, including potential vaccine prioritization strategies.

Commentaries and Think Pieces

The role of schools and school-aged children in SARS-CoV-2 transmission

AUTHOR(S)
Stefan Flasche; W. John Edmunds

Published: December 2020 Journal: The Lancet Infectious Diseases

Schools form a fundamental part of our society. They are crucial for passing on knowledge and values to younger generations and essential for the mental wellbeing of children and parents alike. Unfortunately, they also present a seemingly excellent environment for the spread of respiratory infections through high-frequency and close contacts in often poorly ventilated environments. In their assessment of the partial reopening of educational settings in the UK in June and early July, when SARS-CoV-2 prevalence was relatively low, Sharif Ismail and colleagues’ study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases reassuringly found that despite a median of 928 000 children attending educational settings daily, few SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks were identified. Where secondary cases linked to within-school exposure were found, these were more frequently among teaching and administrative staff.

Journal article

Distinct antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 in children and adults across the COVID-19 clinical spectrum

AUTHOR(S)
Stuart P. Weisberg; Thomas J. Connors; Yun Zhu (et al.)

Published: November 2020 Journal: Nature Immunology

Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 are associated with age. Adults develop respiratory symptoms, which can progress to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in the most severe form, while children are largely spared from respiratory illness but can develop a life-threatening multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). Here, we show distinct antibody responses in children and adults after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Cite this research | No. of pages: 13 | Language: English | Topics: Health | Tags: child health, respiratory diseases, infectious disease, COVID-19

Journal article

Saliva: an important alternative for screening and monitoring of COVID-19 in children

AUTHOR(S)
Catielma Nascimento Santos; Karla Mayra Rezende; Nilson Ferreira de Oliveira Neto (et al.)

Published: November 2020 Journal: Brazilian Oral Research

The increasing number of cases of COVID-19 worldwide poses challenges to healthcare systems not only in effectively identifying individuals positive for SARS-CoV-2, but also in isolating cases to minimise contagion in early diagnosing more severe cases that will need hospitalization. Less-invasive collection methods are indispensable in a pandemic scenario as large-scale tests are necessary to understand the actual evolution of contagion in different populations, thus enabling decision-making based on scientific evidence. Saliva has been shown to be an alternative for diagnosing viral infections as this biological fluid can be easily and quickly collected without using specific devices and causing less discomfort during collection, which is an important factor for use in children. Despite the smaller percentage of severe cases of COVID-19 among children, they seem to play an important role in the contagion as they have the same potential of transmission as that of adults. Knowing the evolution of COVID-19 pandemic in children is extremely important, mainly regarding the changing in rules of social distancing, such as re-opening schools and recreational activities spaces.

Evidence Synthesis and other Reviews

Coronaviruses in children: a review of potential mechanisms of childhood protection

AUTHOR(S)
Firas A. Rabi; Mazhar S. Al Zoubi; Montaha Mohammed Al‐Iede (et al.)

Published: November 2020 Journal: Acta Paediatrica

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) has spread worldwide and the number of cases continues to rise exponentially. Epidemiologic reports indicate that severity of illness increases with age. However, the reasons behind the relative protection of children and infants are unclear. Whether the rationale is host‐related or virus‐dependent is important to determine since the latter could change with viral mutations. This survey reviewed factors that could affect the susceptibility of children to the novel coronavirus.

Journal article

Baseline characteristics, management, and outcomes of 55,270 children and adolescents diagnosed with COVID-19 and 1,952,693 with influenza in France, Germany, Spain, South Korea and the United States: an international network cohort study

AUTHOR(S)
Talita Duarte-Salles; David Vizcaya; Andrea Pistillo (et al.)

Published: November 2020 Journal: Physical Therapy

This study comprehensively characterizes a large international cohort of pediatric COVID-19 patients, and almost 2 million with previous seasonal influenza across 5 countries. Although uncommon, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) were more frequent in children and adolescents diagnosed with COVID-19 than in those with seasonal influenza. Dyspnea, bronchiolitis, anosmia and gastrointestinal symptoms were more frequent in COVID-19, and could help to differentiate pediatric COVID-19 from influenza. A plethora of medications were used during the management of COVID-19 in children and adolescents, with great heterogeneity in the use of antiviral therapies as well as of adjunctive therapies.

Journal article

Coronavirus Disease‐19 deaths among children and adolescents in an area of Northeast, Brazil: why so many?

AUTHOR(S)
Aline de Siqueira Alves Lopes; Sarah Cristina Fontes Vieira; Roseane Lima Santos Porto (et al.)

Published: November 2020 Journal: Tropical Medicine & International Health

This study aims to describe COVID‐19 deaths among children and adolescents in Sergipe, Brazil. It is an ecological study of all COVID‐19 reported cases and deaths occurring in children and adolescents <19 years of age in Sergipe reported by the health surveillance and mortality information systems of Sergipe’s Health Secretary and hospital records.

Journal article

Immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in three children of parents with symptomatic COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Shidan Tosif; Melanie R. Neeland; Nigel W. Crawford (et al.)

Published: November 2020 Journal: Nature Communications

Compared to adults, children with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have predominantly mild or asymptomatic infections, but the underlying immunological differences remain unclear. This study describes clinical features, virology, longitudinal cellular, and cytokine immune profile, SARS-CoV-2-specific serology and salivary antibody responses in a family of two parents with PCR-confirmed symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and their three children, who tested repeatedly SARS-CoV-2 PCR negative. Cellular immune profiles and cytokine responses of all children are similar to their parents at all timepoints. All family members have salivary anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detected, predominantly IgA, that coincide with symptom resolution in 3 of 4 symptomatic members. Plasma from both parents and one child have IgG antibody against the S1 protein and virus-neutralizing activity detected. Using a systems serology approach, this study shows higher levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody features of these family members compared to healthy controls. These data indicate that children can mount an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 without virological confirmation of infection, raising the possibility that immunity in children can prevent the establishment of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Commentaries and Think Pieces

Who should be prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination?

AUTHOR(S)
Fiona M. Russell; Brian Greenwood

Published: November 2020 Journal: Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics

The development of COVID-19 vaccines is occurring at a rapid pace, with the potential for a vaccine to be available within 6 months. So who should be prioritized for vaccination when in the first instance, there will be insufficient supply to meet demand? There is no doubt that health-care workers in all settings should be vaccinated first, but who comes next will be a complex decision based on local epidemiology, societal values, and the ability of the vaccines to prevent both severe disease and to reduce transmission thereby eliciting herd protection. The decision on who to vaccinate should be equitable, highly contextualized, and based on the property of each vaccine. In some settings, the elderly may be prioritized, in others, it may be the population most likely to get infected and responsible for community spread. To support decision-making on who to be prioritized for vaccination requires urgent additional research on the epidemiology of COVID-19; preexisting immunity and who is responsible for transmission in a variety of settings; the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in children and pregnant women; and determining whether COVID-19 vaccines prevent asymptomatic infection and transmission.

Journal article

Parents’ and guardians’ views on the acceptability of a future COVID-19 vaccine: a multi-methods study in England

AUTHOR(S)
Sadie Bell; Richard Clarke; Sandra Mounier-Jack (et al.)

Published: November 2020 Journal: Vaccine

The availability of a COVID-19 vaccine has been heralded as key to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 vaccination programme success will rely on public willingness to be vaccinated. This study uses a multi-methods approach - involving an online cross-sectional survey and semi-structured interviews - to investigate parents’ and guardians’ views on the acceptability of a future COVID-19 vaccine.

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UNICEF Innocenti's Children and COVID-19 Library is a database collecting research from around the world on COVID-19 and its impacts on children and adolescents.

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