By Ethan Covey
Although still at a rate lower than seen in adults, pediatric hospitalizations from COVID-19 increased during the delta surge, particularly among children and adolescents who were obese and had other underlying medical conditions.
Fewer than 1% of the children who were hospitalized were fully vaccinated, highlighting the importance of COVID-19 vaccination among all eligible individuals, according to the report (MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70[5152]:1766-1772).
“COVID-19 vaccines are now available for those aged 5 years and older, and in addition to taking other prevention steps like wearing a mask and physical distancing in indoor public places, increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates among all eligible persons will help prevent severe COVID-19,” said Valentine Wanga, PhD, an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer with the CDC.
The report focuses on data from pediatric patients hospitalized in six children’s hospitals during July through August 2021, when the B.1.617.2 (delta) variant became the predominant COVID-19 strain in the United States. It did not look at hospitalizations during the omicron surge.
The hospitals, which were located in Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Texas and Washington, D.C., reported a total of 915 patients aged younger than 18 years with COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of these, 77.9% were hospitalized for COVID-19 and 2.7% were diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. In 19.3%, SARS-CoV-2 infection was an incidental finding.
Most patients (67.5%) had underlying medical conditions, with obesity being the most common, particularly among those who were 12 to 17 years of age (61.4%). One-half of children hospitalized for acute COVID-19 received oxygen support, and about 30% were admitted to the ICU.
“Children and adolescents, particularly those with obesity, required higher levels of care and longer duration of higher levels of care,” Dr. Wanga said. “This highlights the need for continued public health efforts to address childhood obesity as a risk factor for severe COVID-19.”
While the study was conducted prior to the emergence of the omicron variant, Dr. Wanga noted that the findings may be applicable to the current wave.
“We found that three out of four children and adolescents were hospitalized for acute COVID-19,” she said. “And among all patients hospitalized for acute COVID-19, four of five were younger than 5 years old or between 12 to 17 years old.”
Dr. Wanga added that as the data for the study came from only six hospitals, five of which are in the South, additional research will be important to continue to document how COVID-19 is affecting pediatric patients.
“More nationally representative studies, which include data from the current surge of COVID-19 due to the omicron variant, could shed more light on the clinical presentation, illness course and factors contributing to COVID-19–related hospitalizations among pediatric patients in the U.S.,” she said.
