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Children and COVID-19 Research Library

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

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16 - 30 of 32
The intergenerational mortality tradeoff of COVID-19 lockdown policies

AUTHOR(S)
Lin Ma; Gil Shapira; Damien de Walque (et al.)

Institution: The World Bank
Published: May 2021
In lower-income countries, the economic contractions that accompany lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19 can increase child mortality, counteracting the mortality reductions achieved by the lockdown. To formalize and quantify this effect, this paper builds a macro-susceptible-infected-recovered model that features heterogeneous agents and a country-group-specific relationship between economic downturns and child mortality. The model is calibrated to data for 85 countries across all income levels. The findings show that in low-income countries, a lockdown can potentially lead to 1.76 children’s lives lost due to the economic contraction per COVID-19 fatality averted. The figure stands at 0.59 and 0.06 in lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income countries, respectively. As a result, in some countries, lockdowns can produce net increases in mortality. The optimal lockdowns are shorter and milder in poorer countries than in rich ones and never produce a net mortality increase.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatric emergency service

AUTHOR(S)
İlknur Fidancı; Medine Ayşin Taşar; Bahar Akıntuğ (et al.)

Published: May 2021   Journal: The International Journal of Clinical Practice

The aims of this research were to review patients visiting the paediatric emergency department over a 6-month period 1 year before and during the pandemic, to review paediatric emergency department referral ratios and to determine whether there were any significant decreases in mortality and morbidity. All patients from the ages of 0 to 18 years visiting the University of Health Sciences, Ankara Research and Training Hospital, paediatric emergency service from April-October 2019 to April-October 2020 with no missing information in their records were involved in this retrospective cross-sectional study.

Could COVID-19 reverse the modest gains made in newborn health in Ethiopia?

AUTHOR(S)
Abiy Seifu Estifanos; Kescha Kazmi; Shaun K. Morris

Published: May 2021   Journal: Maternal and Child Health Journal

Ethiopia has made remarkable progress in reducing childhood and neonatal mortality in the last two decades. However, with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia, disruptions in routine health care pose a significant risk in reversing the gains made in neonatal mortality reduction. Using the World Health Organization’s health systems building blocks framework we examined the mechanisms by which the pandemic may impact neonatal health.

An autopsy study of the spectrum of severe COVID-19 in children: From SARS to different phenotypes of MIS-C

AUTHOR(S)
Amaro Nunes Duarte-Neto; Elia Garcia Caldini; Michele Soares Gomes-Gouvea (et al.)

Published: May 2021   Journal: EClinicalMedicine
COVID-19 in children is usually mild or asymptomatic, but severe and fatal paediatric cases have been described. The pathology of COVID-19 in children is not known; the proposed pathogenesis for severe cases includes immune-mediated mechanisms or the direct effect of SARS-CoV-2 on tissues. We describe the autopsy findings in five cases of paediatric COVID-19 and provide mechanistic insight into the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Children and adolescents who died with COVID-19 between March 18 and August 15, 2020 were autopsied with a minimally invasive method. Tissue samples from all vital organs were analysed by histology, electron microscopy (EM), reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC).
Rate of thrombosis in children and adolescents hospitalized with COVID-19 or MIS-C

AUTHOR(S)
Hilary Whitworth; Sarah E. Sartain; Riten Kumar (et al.)

Published: April 2021   Journal: 75 Blood
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is associated with thrombotic complications in adults, but the incidence of COVID-19 related thrombosis in children and adolescents is unclear. Most children with acute COVID-19 have mild disease, but coagulopathy has been associated with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a post-infectious complication. This study conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort research to determine the incidence of thrombosis in children hospitalized with COVID-19 or MIS-C and to evaluate associated risk factors.
Cite this research | Open access | Vol.: 137 | Issue: 18 | No. of pages: 22 | Language: English | Topics: Health | Tags: adolescent health, child health, child mortality, COVID-19, infectious disease, respiratory diseases
Mortality in children with COVID-19: Lessons learned from a tertiary referral hospital in Indonesia

AUTHOR(S)
Rismala Dewi; Nastiti Kaswandani; Mulya Rahma Karyanti (et al.)

Published: April 2021   Journal: International journal of infectious diseases
The incidence of COVID-19 is still rapidly increasing, but little is known about the prevalence and characteristics of fatal cases in children in Indonesia. This study aims to describe the characteristics of pediatric COVID-19 cases with fatal outcomes in Indonesia's tertiary referral hospital. This is a cross-sectional study with data collected from the medical records of COVID-19 patients admitted to Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia, from March to October 2020.
Cite this research | Open access | No. of pages: 31 | Language: English | Topics: Health | Tags: child mortality, COVID-19, hospitalization, infectious disease | Countries: Indonesia
Management of COVID-19-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: A comprehensive literature review
Published: April 2021   Journal: Progress in Pediatric Cardiology

The prevalence and severity of COVID-19 is greatly reduced in children, yet some pediatric patients develop a syndrome resembling Kawasaki Disease (KD), termed Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). With an estimated incidence of 2/100,000 children, MIS-C is relatively rare, but can be fatal. Clinical features can include fever, hyperinflammatory state, gastrointestinal symptoms, myocardial dysfunction, and shock. The pathogenesis of MIS-C, although yet to be completely elucidated, appears to be distinct from KD in terms of epidemiology, severity, and biochemical signature. This comprehensive review searched AMED, EBM Reviews, Embase, Healthstar, MEDLINE, ERIC, and Cochrane for studies that reported treatments and outcomes of MIS-C.

Decrease in admissions and change in the diagnostic landscape in a newborn care unit in Northern Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Alhassan Abdul-Mumin; Cesia Cotache-Condor; Kingsley Appiah Bimpong (et al.)

Published: March 2021   Journal: Frontiers in Pediatrics
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread worldwide with an increasing number of patients, including pregnant women and neonates. This study aims to evaluate morbidity and mortality in the COVID-19 era compared to the preceding year in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana. This is a cross-sectional study carried out on neonates admitted to NICU between March 1st to August 31st, 2019 (pre-COVID-19 era) and March 1st to August 31st, 2020 (COVID-19 era). Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of mortality for both periods.
GN briefing on COVID-19 and malnutrition
Institution: General Nutrition
Published: March 2021

The increase in malnutrition arising due to the coronavirus pandemic is expected to cause nearly 170,000 additional child deaths in the next two years. Please, read that again, and understand that we are in the middle of a crisis within a crisis. This pandemic has created a fatal cycle: malnourished people are at a higher risk of death or hospitalisation from COVID-19, and the lockdown measures necessary to tackle the virus make it more difficult for people to access healthcare facilities and proper food, thus pushing them closer to malnutrition. Since nutrition underpins all of human flourishing, people in these regions are also under great economic, social, environmental and health strains, and may sink deeper into poverty as a result . Both COVID-19 and malnutrition have intense, long-term impacts, and challenge our ability to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are emergencies in the short and long term. To avoid this food crisis spiralling out of control, actions to prevent malnutrition must be adopted as an essential part of any COVID-19 response.

COVID-19: lessons to date from China

AUTHOR(S)
Xiaoxia Lu; Yuhan Xing; Gary Wing-Kin Wong

Published: December 2020   Journal: Archives of Disease in Childhood
In China, there have been more than 1200 paediatric cases. Most paediatric patients acquire the infection through household contact with infected adults. The disease in children is usually self-limiting and most infected children will recover uneventfully within 7–10 days. Other than symptoms of the respiratory tract, many children may present with gastrointestinal symptoms. Older children are more likely to have asymptomatic infection. Although deaths related to SARS-CoV-2 are rarely reported in the paediatric age group, young children and those with underlying medical conditions are more likely to develop severe illness. Only a small fraction of neonates born to infected mother would acquire the virus by vertical transmission. Because a large proportion of children and adolescents may have asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infection, children are likely to play an important role in community transmission of this infection. Screening of children who have a definitive contact history will facilitate early diagnosis and isolation of all infected children. This review summarises the lessons learned in China with regard to the current understanding of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the paediatric population.
Cite this research | Open access | Vol.: 105 | Issue: 12 | No. of pages: 1146-1150 | Language: English | Topics: Health | Tags: child health, child mortality, COVID-19 response, disease transmission | Countries: China
Impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on the incidence of preterm birth: a national quasi-experimental study

AUTHOR(S)
Jasper V. Been; Lizbeth Burgos Ochoa; Loes C. M. Bertens (et al.)

Published: November 2020   Journal: The Lancet Public Health
Preterm birth is the leading cause of child mortality globally, with many survivors experiencing long-term adverse consequences. Preliminary evidence suggests that numbers of preterm births greatly reduced following implementation of policy measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 mitigation measures implemented in the Netherlands on the incidence of preterm birth through a national quasi-experimental difference-in-regression-discontinuity approach.
Cite this research | Open access | Vol.: 5 | Issue: 11 | No. of pages: 604-611 | Language: English | Topics: Health | Tags: child mortality, maternal and child health, pregnancy | Countries: Netherlands
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A neglected tragedy: The global burden of stillbirths 2020

There is a high risk that the COVID-19 pandemic may reverse decades-long progress on reducing child mortality and affect the number of stillbirths. This new release of the first-ever joint stillbirth estimates by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) presents the number of babies that are stillborn every year due to pregnancy and birth-related complications, the absence of health workers and basic services. The issue has become an essential part of global child survival initiatives. UNICEF calls on international organizations, governments and partners for increased and strong political will, sound policies and targeted investment along the continuum of care for every mother and child.

Cite this research | Open access | No. of pages: 90 | Language: English | Topics: Health, Child Protection | Tags: child mortality
Early indirect impact of COVID-19 pandemic on utilization and outcomes of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health services in Kenya

AUTHOR(S)
Duncan Shikuku; Irene Nyaoke; Sylvia Gichuru (et al.)

Published: September 2020   Journal: MedRxiv
The COVID-19 global pandemic is expected to result in 8.3-38.6% additional maternal deaths in many low-income countries. The objective of this paper was to determine the initial impact of COVID-19 pandemic on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) services in Kenya.
Cover
Levels & Trends in Child Mortality. United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) Report 2020
Institution: *UNICEF, World Health Organisation, The World Bank
Published: September 2020 UNICEF Publication

There have been dramatic reductions in child and youth mortality over the last 29 years. Globally, under-five mortality has dropped by 59% since 1990—from 93 deaths per 1,000 live births then to 38 deaths in 2019. Initial evidence suggests that the impact of COVID-19 on direct mortality for children and youth may be small, but indirect effects can be severe. Many life-saving services have already been disrupted by COVID-19. 

COVID-19 deaths in children: comparison with all- and other causes and trends in incidence of mortality

AUTHOR(S)
Sunil S. Bhopal; Jayshree Bagaria; Bayanne Olabi (et al.)

Published: September 2020   Journal: Public Health
Our analysis of COVID-19 in children until the end of May 2020 indicated mortality was rare and lower than from influenza, for which children already have a vaccine. We feared and wrote that over time the severity of the virus in children might increase. We published this in May 20201 and now examine childhood mortality from COVID-19 over time and compared with other causes in seven countries: USA, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and Republic of Korea.
Cite this research | Open access | No. of pages: 6 | Language: English | Topics: Health | Tags: child mortality, COVID-19, multi-country
16 - 30 of 32

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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COVID-19 & Children: Rapid Research Response

UNICEF Innocenti is mobilizing a rapid research response in line with UNICEF’s global response to the COVID-19 crisis. The initiatives we’ve begun will provide the broad range of evidence needed to inform our work to scale up rapid assessment, develop urgent mitigating strategies in programming and advocacy, and preparation of interventions to respond to the medium and longer-term consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The research projects cover a rapid review of evidence, education analysis, and social and economic policies.