Open Access#12021
COVID-19 trends and severity among symptomatic children aged 0–17 years in 10 European Union countries, 3 August 2020 to 3 October 2021
Bundle, Nick; Dave, Nishi; Pharris, Anastasia; Spiteri, Gianfranco; Deogan, Charlotte; Suk, Jonathan E; Soteriou, Soteroulla; Papandreou, Anna
Bundle, Nick; Dave, Nishi; Pharris, Anastasia; Spiteri, Gianfranco; Deogan, Charlotte; Suk, Jonathan E; Soteriou, Soteroulla; Papandreou, Anna; Silvestros, Valentinos; Athanasiadou, Maria; Kyprianou, Theopisti; Demetriou, Anna; Helve, Otto; Sarvikivi, Emmi; Buda, Silke; Hauer, Barbara; Haas, Walter; Wolff, Thorsten; Colgan, Aoife; O'Donnell, Kate; Bella, Antonino; Mossong, Joël; Vergison, Anne
We estimated risks of severe outcomes in 820,404 symptomatic paediatric COVID-19 cases reported by 10 European Union countries between August 2020 and October 2021. Case and hospitalisation rates rose as transmission increased but severe outcomes were rare: 9,611 (1.2%) were hospitalised, 640 (0.08%) required intensive care and 84 (0.01%) died. Despite increased individual risk (adjusted odds ratio hospitalisation: 7.3; 95% confidence interval: 3.3–16.2; intensive care: 8.7; 6.2–12.3) in cases with comorbidities, most (83.7%) hospitalised children had no comorbidity.