Children's COVID Disease Risk Factors Have Been Discovered

Silva Santos^*
*Correspondence: Silva Santos, Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Brasilia, Brasília, Brazil, Email:

Coronaviruses are significant diseases in humans and animals. A new coronavirus was identified as the source of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China's Hubei province, at the end of 2019. It quickly spread throughout China, culminating in an epidemic, with a rising number of cases in other nations throughout the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) named the disease COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019, in February 2020. COVID-19 is caused by a virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which was previously known as 2019-nCoV. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed COVID-19 a pandemic [1].

According to available statistics, children under the age of 18 accounts for roughly 8.5 percent of reported cases, with relatively few deaths compared to other age groups and typically moderate disease. However, there have been reports of serious sickness. Pre-existing medical issues have been identified as a risk factor for severe disease and intensive care admission in children, much as they have been in adults. We've seen how COVID-19 sickness affects people differently during the course of the pandemic. Coronavirus is more likely to cause serious sickness in older persons and those with underlying medical disorders such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, or obesity. While there are well-documented risk factors for hospitalisation and poor outcomes associated with COVID disease in adults, the causes of disease severity in children are less well established. Given the prospect of a third wave of COVID-19 in the near future, and the fact that the great majority of children are still unvaccinated and vulnerable, it's more critical than ever to discover the characteristics that place children at high risk of contracting the disease [2, 3].

This can aid in the development of child-prevention strategies. With these considerations in mind, a group of doctors at Vanderbilt's Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital analysed data from 45 children's hospitals around the country, including 20,000 children with COVID-19. Factors Associated with COVID-19 Disease Severity in U.S. Children, a research published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, was just published. Among the children admitted to the hospital with COVID, older age and chronic co-morbidities such as obesity, diabetes, and neurologic disorders were shown to be related with severe disease and poor health outcomes. The findings could assist determine who should be given priority for COVID-19 vaccines when they become accessible for children under the age of 12 years old, according to the researchers. The US Centers for Condition Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated in a report released on March 12, 2021 that people with the highest body mass index (BMI) scores had the highest risk of acquiring severe COVID-19, being hospitalised with the disease, or dying from it. Obese people are more likely to develop diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer, which are all substantial risk factors for COVID-19 severity and mortality. Furthermore, mounting research suggests that obesity is another risk factor linked to poor outcomes in COVID-19 individuals [4].

According to several research, patients with diabetes who have inadequate immunity are more likely to get Covid-19 infection. Their immune system can be weakened by high blood sugar levels. Furthermore, the virus thrives in a high-glucose environment, making recovery from sickness more difficult for persons with diabetes. COVID-19 is associated to an increased chance of being extremely ill if you have mental or neurological disorders. COVID-19 appears to raise the likelihood of negative outcomes among patients with mental health illnesses such schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease, dementia, and bipolar disorder, according to mounting research [5].

References

1. Bellino, Stefania, Ornella Punzo, Maria Cristina Rota, and Martina Del Manso et al. "COVID-19 disease severity risk factors for pediatric patients in Italy." Pediatr. 146(2020).
2. Kainth, Mundeep K., Pratichi K. Goenka, Kristy A. Williamson, and Joanna S. Fishbein et al. "Early Experience of COVID-19 in a US Children's Hospital." Pediatr. 146(2020).
3. Graff, Kelly, Christiana Smith, Lori Silveira, and Sarah Jung et al. "Risk factors for severe COVID-19 in children." Pediatr Infect Dis J. 40(2021): e137-e145.
4. Loi, Michele, Brian Branchford, John Kim, and Chelsea Self et al. "COVID�19 anticoagulation recommendations in children." Pediatr Blood Cancer. (2020).
5. Bandi, Sindhura, Michael Z. Nevid, and Mahboobeh Mahdavinia. "African American children are at higher risk for COVID�19 infection." Pediatr Allerg Immunol. (2020).