The risk of dying from coronavirus infection is very low in children and adolescents. In the vast majority of those infected, Covid-19 takes a mild course, as confirmed by a large Europe-wide study. Most developed fever and upper respiratory complaints.
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For the investigation, a team of researchers evaluated data from 82 medical facilities in 25 European countries during the first high point of the corona pandemic. Their study included information from 582 children between the ages of three days and 18 years who were all found to be infected with Sars-Cov-2 and whose parents sought medical help with them.
16 percent of the children developed no symptoms at all, most of them were only tested because close contacts were infected. 62 percent of the study participants had to be treated in the hospital. Eight percent needed treatment in the intensive care unit. The risk of this increased if the children were infected with more than one respiratory virus and their immune system had to fight a cold or flu virus at the same time.
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The vast majority of children (87 percent) recovered without the need for additional oxygen or artificial ventilation. However, four of the more than 500 children died, two of them had previous illnesses, as the researchers in the trade journal “The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health” to report. The mortality rate in the group was below one percent.
Risk for all children is probably significantly lower
In fact, the risk of developing a serious illness is likely to be significantly lower than the numbers suggest. Since the study only evaluated data from children whose parents had received medical help, many very mild cases were probably not recorded at all.
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“Our study provides the most comprehensive overview of Covid-19 in children and adolescents to date,” said Marc Tebruegge of the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute for Child Health in London. “It was comforting to see that the mortality rate in our study group was very low and is likely to be significantly lower since many children with mild illnesses were not brought to medical treatment and were therefore not included in this study.”
Nevertheless, serious illnesses that require treatment in the intensive care unit can also occur in a not inconsiderable number of children, said Tebruegge. “This should be taken into account when planning and prioritizing health resources during the pandemic.”
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Further studies: children are less likely to become infected
The results of the Europe-wide study coincide with other studies that have been published in the past weeks. According to this, children only get sick occasionally after an infection. However, it can very rarely lead to a severe course of the disease with severe inflammatory reactions.
In addition, an increasing number of studies indicate that children are less likely to get the coronavirus than adults. For a recent study, researchers had examined a large part of the residents of Ischgl for antibodies against the coronavirus. The virus had spread rapidly in the holiday resort in early March.
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In fact, the researchers discovered antibodies to the virus in more than 40 percent of the population, which are a sure sign that they have gone through the infection. children were affected much less often, even if Corona cases had occurred in their families. A Dutch study with targeted tests in families of infected people came to the same result.
Why children are probably better protected from the virus has not yet been fully clarified. One reason could be that they are better shielded, so they have fewer contacts. But it is also quite possible that your immune system can fight off the virus better.
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