Nine in 10 kids in ICU for COVID-19 had prior medical conditions

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-12-21 07:33

International

Research in England has pinpointed what puts children and young people at risk of severe COVID-19, drawing on all hospitalisations under 18 in the first pandemic year. The overall risk was very low; just 8 children died out of 6,338 hospitalisations. Of the 251 children and teens admitted to a paediatric ICU with COVID, 91% had a pre-existing health condition - and those with multiple medical problems faced the most risk. The chances of ending up in hospital were also higher for older teens and non-Whites.

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Journal/
conference: Nature Medicine

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Institute of Child Health, University of Liverpool, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, NHS England and Improvement, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, University of Leicester, Imperial College London, etc. (UK)

Funder: J.L.W. is in receipt of a Medical Research Council fellowship (grant no. MR/R00160X/1). R.H. is in receipt of a fellowship from Kidney Research UK (grant no. TF_010_20171124). L.K.F. is in receipt of funding from Martin House Children’s Hospice (there is no specific grant number for this). R.M.V. is in receipt of a grant from the National Institute of Health Research to support this work (grant no. NIHR202322). D.H. is supported by the National Institute for Health Research through the National School for Public Health Research Programme and the Applied Health Research Programme for North West London. Funders had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

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