One Year of Lung Ultrasound in Children with SARS-CoV-2 Admitted to a Tertiary Referral Children’s Hospital: A Retrospective Study during 2020–2021

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the lung ultrasound (LU) turned out to be a pivotal tool to study the lung involvement in the adult population, but the same was not well evaluated in children. We detected the LU patterns through an integrated approach with clinical–laboratory features in children hospitalized for COVID-19 in relation to the temporal trend of the Italian epidemic. We conducted a retrospective study which took place at a pediatric tertiary hospital from 15 March 2020 to 15 March 2021. We compared the characteristics of the initial phase of the first COVID-19 year—in the spring and summer (15 March–30 September 2020)—and those of the second phase—in the autumn and winter (1 October 2020–15 March 2021). Twenty-eight patients were studied both in the first and in the second phase of the first COVID-19 year. The disease severity score (DSS) was significantly greater in the second phase (p = 0.015). In the second phase of the first COVID-19 year, we detected a more significant occurrence of the following LU features than in the first phase: the irregular pleural line (85.71% vs. 60.71%; p = 0.035), the B-lines (89.29% vs. 60%; p = 0.003) and the several but non-coalescent B-lines (89.29% vs. 60%; p = 0.003). The LU score correlated significantly with the DSS, with a moderate relationship (r = 0.51, p < 0.001). The combined clinical, laboratory and ultrasound approaches might be essential in the evaluation of pulmonary involvement in children affected by COVID-19 during different periods of the pandemic.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• lung
• ultrasound
• children
• severity
• B-lines