Prevalence and determinants of symptomatic COVID-19 infection among children and adolescents in Qatar: A cross sectional analysis of 11445 individuals.

Abstract

There is a paucity of evidence about the prevalence and risk factors for symptomatic infection among children. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19 and its risk factors in children and adolescents aged 0-18 years in Qatar. We conducted a cross-sectional study of all children aged 0-18 years diagnosed with COVID-19 using PCR in Qatar during the period 1st March to 31st July 2020. A generalized linear model (GLM) with a binomial family and identity link was used to assess the association between selected factors and the prevalence of symptomatic infection. A total of 11445 children with a median age of 8 years (IQR 3-13 years) were included in this study. The prevalence of symptomatic COVID-19 was 36.6% (95% CI 35.7 to 37.5%), and it was similar between children aged <5 years (37.8%), 5-9 years (34.3%), and 10+ years (37.3%). The most frequently reported symptoms among the symptomatic group were fever (73.5%), cough (34.8%),headache (23.2%) and sore throat (23.2%). Fever (82.8%) was more common in symptomatic children aged <5 years, while cough (38.7%) was more prevalent in those aged ten years or older, compared to other age groups. Variables associated with an increased risk of symptomatic infection were; contact with confirmed cases (RD 0.21; 95%CI 0.20 to 0.23; p=0.001), having visited a health care facility (RD 0.54; 95%CI 0.45 to 0.62; p=0.001), and children aged under 5 years (RD 0.05; 95%CI 0.02 to 0.07; p=0.001) or aged ten years or older (RD 0.04; 95%CI 0.02 to 0.06; p=0.001). A third of the children with COVID-19 were symptomatic with a higher proportion of fever in very young children and a higher proportion of cough in those between 10-18 years of age.