Prior immunity protective against severe outcomes of COVID-19 infections in children

The data of a recent study has confirmed that prior immunity protects against severe outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children, similar to adults. This study is published in The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

This study was an international hospital-based multicenter prospective cohort study. The real-time reporting was active from March 2020 to December 2022. In this study, researchers evaluated longitudinal incident rates and risk factors for disease severity.

Key results of this study are:

• Researchers included 564 hospitalized children with a history of acute COVID-19 in 375 children or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children in 189 children from the Netherlands, Curaçao and Surinam.
• In COVID-19, 134 patients, constituting 36%, needed supplemental oxygen therapy, and 35 patients, including 9.3 %, required intensive care treatment.
• Predictors for severe COVID-19 included age above 12 years and preexisting pulmonary conditions.
• During omicron, Hospitalized children had milder disease.
• During population immunity, the incidence rate of pediatric COVID-19 infection declined for older children. It was stable for children below one year.
• The incidence rate of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children was highest during the delta wave. It decreased rapidly since omicron emerged.
• Real-time reporting impacted national pediatric SARS-CoV-2 vaccination- and booster policies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected social and healthcare-related aspects worldwide. Healthcare decision-makers, medical staff, and hospital managers require reliable and updated information to make informed decisions.

The reporting framework of our consortium is readily accessible for future SARS-CoV-2 waves and other emerging infections, they said.

Study limitations include the observational nature of the study design, limited generalizability, reporting bias, etc.

Reference:

Tulling, Adam J. et al. Severe Pediatric COVID-19 and Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children From Wild-type to Population Immunity: A Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study With Real-time Reporting. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.