Clinical findings and laboratory parameters associated with CO-RADS classification in children with COVID-19

• Published in: The Gazette of the Egyptian Paediatric Association 2024-12, Vol.72 (1), p.54-7, Article 54
• Main Authors: Elmeazawy, Rehab, EL-Moazen, Ahmed Mohammed Farid
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Children; CO-RADS; Congenital diseases; COVID-19; Creatinine; Cyanosis; Dehydrogenases; Diarrhea; Disease; DNA polymerases; Ferritin; Fever; Health aspects; Hemoglobin; Infections; Laboratories; Lymphocytes; Medical imaging; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medicine, Experimental; Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children; Neutrophils; Pediatrics; RT-PCR; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Statistical analysis
• ISSN: 2090-9942; 1110-6638; 2090-9942
• DOI: 10.1186/s43054-024-00293-z

Background The aim of this study was to determine whether there are proven associations between CO-RADS categorizations and clinical and laboratory findings in children diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. Methods This is a retrospective observational study that includes the clinical and radiological data of pediatric patients who were admitted to both Minia University Hospital and Minia Insurance Hospital with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, detected via reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) from nasopharyngeal swabs obtained between June 2022 and February 2023. Patients were divided into 5 groups based on the severity of involvement in chest CT. Results This study involved a total of 62 children who were confirmed to have COVID-19 infection. The most commonly observed symptoms in these children were fever (91.9%), shortness of breath (88.7%), and cough (87.1%). In addition, vomiting (24.2%), diarrhea (12.9%), impaired consciousness (11.2%), and convulsions (9.7%) were also reported. Significant differences were observed between CO-RADS classes in relation to patient gender, severity of respiratory distress, presence of cough, occurrence of diarrhea, elevated LDH levels, and prognosis. Conclusion The CO-RADS classification exhibited positive correlations with inflammatory biomarkers such as total leucocytic count, LDH, D-dimer, serum ferritin, and AST. Conversely, the CO-RADS classification showed negative correlations with ionized calcium levels, hemoglobin, and platelet count.