PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Clinical manifestations and disease severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection among infants in Canada.

  • Pierre-Philippe Piché-Renaud,
  • Luc Panetta,
  • Daniel S Farrar,
  • Charlotte Moore-Hepburn,
  • Olivier Drouin,
  • Jesse Papenburg,
  • Marina I Salvadori,
  • Melanie Laffin,
  • Fatima Kakkar,
  • Shaun K Morris,
  • Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program COVID-19 Study Team

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272648
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 8
p. e0272648

Abstract

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BackgroundThere are limited data on outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection among infants (MethodsThis is a national, prospective study of infants with SARS-CoV-2 from April 8th 2020 to May 31st 2021 using the infrastructure of the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program. Infants ResultsA total of 531 cases were reported, including 332 (62.5%) non-hospitalized and 199 (37.5%) hospitalized infants. Among hospitalized infants, 141 of 199 infants (70.9%) were admitted because of COVID-19-related illness, and 58 (29.1%) were admitted for reasons other than acute COVID-19. Amongst all cases with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the most common presenting symptoms included fever (66.5%), coryza (47.1%), cough (37.3%) and decreased oral intake (25.0%). In our main analysis, infants with a comorbid condition had higher odds of hospitalization compared to infants with no comorbid conditions (aOR = 4.53, 2.06-9.97), and infants ConclusionsWe describe one of the largest cohorts of infants with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Overall, severe COVID-19 in this age group was found to be uncommon. Comorbid conditions and younger age were associated with COVID-19-related hospitalization amongst infants.