A Multicentered Study on Epidemiologic and Clinical Characteristics of 37 Neonates With Community-acquired COVID-19

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) primarily affects adults and spares children, whereas very little is known about neonates. We tried to define the clinical characteristics, risk factors, laboratory, and imagining results of neonates with community-acquired COVID-19. Methods: This prospective multicentered cohort study included 24 neonatal intensive care units around Turkey, wherein outpatient neonates with COVID-19 were registered in an online national database. Full-term and premature neonates diagnosed with COVID-19 were included in the study, whether hospitalized or followed up as ambulatory patients. Neonates without severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) via reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction testing or whose mothers had been diagnosed with COVID-19 during pregnancy were excluded. Results: Thirty-seven symptomatic neonates were included. The most frequent findings were fever, hypoxemia, and cough (49%, 41%, 27%, respectively). Oxygen administration (41%) and noninvasive ventilation (16%) were frequently required; however, mechanical ventilation (3%) was rarely needed. Median hospitalization was 11 days (1-35 days). One patient with Down syndrome and congenital cardiovascular disorders died in the study period. C-reactive protein (CRP) and prothrombin time (PT) levels were found to be higher in patients who needed supplemental oxygen (0.9 [0.1-8.6] vs. 5.8 [0.3-69.2]p= 0.002, 11.9 [10.1-17.2] vs. 15.2 [11.7-18.0]p= 0.01, respectively) or who were severe/critical (1.0 [0.01-8.6] vs. 4.5 [0.1-69.2]p= 0.01, 11.7 [10.1-13.9] vs. 15.0 [11.7-18.0]p= 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Symptomatic neonates with COVID-19 had high rates of respiratory support requirements. High CRP levels or a greater PT should alert the physician to more severe disease

Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of neonates with late-onset COVID-19: 1-year data of Turkish Neonatal Society

© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.The literature on neonates with SARS-CoV-2 is mainly concerned with perinatal cases, and scanty data are available about environmentally infected neonates. To fill knowledge gaps on the course and prognosis of neonatal cases, we analyzed 1-year data from the Turkish Neonatal Society in this prospective cohort study of neonates with postnatal transmission. Data from 44 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), of neonates with positive RT-PCR results at days 5–28 of life, were extracted from the online registry system and analyzed. Of 176 cases, most were term infants with normal birth weight. Fever was the most common symptom (64.2%), followed by feeding intolerance (25.6%), and cough (21.6%). The median length of hospitalization was 9 days, with approximately one quarter of infants receiving some type of ventilatory support. Myocarditis (5.7%) was the most common complication during follow-up. Among the clinical findings, cough (odds ratio [OR]: 9.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.17–21.71), tachypnea (OR: 26.5, 95% CI: 9.59–73.19), and chest retractions (OR: 27.5, 95% CI: 5.96–126.96) were associated with more severe clinical disease. Also, there were significant differences in the C-reactive protein level, prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time, international normalized ratio, and days in the NICU (p = 0.002, p = 0.012, p = 0.034, p = 0.008, and p < 0.001, respectively) between patients with mild-moderate and severe-critical presentations. A PT above 14 s was a significant predictor of severe/critical cases, with a sensitivity of 64% and specificity of 73%. Conclusions: Our data showed that late-onset COVID-19 infection in neonates who need hospitalization can be severe, showing associations with high rates of ventilatory support and myocarditis. Cough, tachypnea, and retractions on admission suggest a severe disease course. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04401540.What is Known:• Neonatal cases of COVID-19 infection are mainly reported as perinatal COVID-19 cases.• Neonates with perinatal transmission have a mild course and favorable prognosis.What is New:• Among symptomatic neonates with late-onset COVID-19 infection, fever was the most common symptom, and almost one quarter of hospitalized cases needed some type of respiratory support. Myocarditis was the most common complication.• The presence of cough, tachypnea, retractions, and a PT above 14 s were associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19