Risk factors for severe COVID-19 infection in Brazilian children

The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological characteristics and clinical outcome of children hospitalized with COVID-19 and identify the risk factors for severe disease. All hospital admissions of pediatric patients between March and December 2020 in the southern region of Brazil were reviewed and the patients positive for RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 were identified. This region encompasses a population of over 2.8 million children and adolescents. Data were extracted from a national database that includes all cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome requiring hospitalization in Brazil. A total of 288 hospitalizations (51.3% female) with a median age of 3 years (interquartile range 0-12 years) were identified. Of these, 38.9% had chronic medical conditions, 55.6% required some form of supplementary oxygen, and 30.2% were admitted to an intensive care unit. There were 17 deaths (5.9%) related to COVID-19. Age less than 30 days was significantly associated with increased odds of critical illness (OR 9.52, 95% CI 3.01-30.08), as well as the presence of one chronic condition (OR 5.08 95% CI 2.78-9.33) or two or more chronic conditions (OR 6.60, 95% CI 3.17-13.74). Conclusion: Age under 30 days old and presence of chronic conditions were strongly associated with unfavorable outcomes in Brazilian children with SARS-CoV-2 infection. These findings could help local public health authorities to develop specific policies to protect this more vulnerable group of children

Fatores associados à chance de realização de cesariana primária em hospital universitário

Objective: The present study seeks to identify the associated factors that increased primary cesarean delivery rates. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that evaluated the number of primary cesarean sections performed in the years 2006 and 2018 at the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA, in the Portuguese acronym), through the collection of data from the medical records of the patients. Results: Advanced maternal age, twin pregnancy, and higher body mass index (BMI) became more frequent in 2018 in comparison with 2006. To mitigate the impact of confounding in comparisons among groups, we made an adjustment by propensity scores and detected significant differences when comparing both age groups on twin pregnancy rates, gestational diabetes mellitus, and thyroid disease. Conclusion: Data from the present study can be used to prevent and improve the management of morbidities, impacting on better outcomes in obstetrical practice.Objetivo: O presente estudo busca identificar os fatores associados que aumentamas taxas de partos cesáreos primários. Métodos: Estudo transversal, avaliando o número de cesáreas primárias realizadas nos anos de 2006 e 2018 no Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), pormeio da coleta de dados nos prontuários das pacientes. Resultados: Idade materna avançada, gravidez gemelar e índice de massa corporal (IMC) mais elevado tornaram-se mais frequentes em 2018. Para mitigar o impacto dos fatores de confusão nas comparações entre os grupos, fizemos um ajuste por escores de propensão e detectamos diferenças significativas nas taxas de gravidez gemelar, diabetes mellitus gestacional e doença da tireoide. Conclusão: Os dados do presente estudo podem ser utilizados para prevenir e melhorar o manejo de morbidades, impactando em melhores resultados na prática obstétrica

Cohort study protocol of the Brazilian collaborative research network on COVID-19 : strengthening WHO global data

Introduction: with the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals in low-income countries were faced with a triple challenge. First, a large number of patients required hospitalisation because of the infection’s more severe symptoms. Second, there was a lack of systematic and broad testing policies for early identification of cases. Third, there were weaknesses in the integration of information systems, which led to the need to search for available information from the hospital information systems. Accordingly, it is also important to state that relevant aspects of COVID-19’s natural history had not yet been fully clarified. The aim of this research protocol is to present the strategies of a Brazilian network of hospitals to perform systematised data collection on COVID-19 through the WHO platform. Methods and analysis: this is a multicentre project among Brazilian hospitals to provide data on COVID-19 through the WHO global platform, which integrates patient care information from different countries. From October 2020 to March 2021, a committee worked on defining a flowchart for this platform, specifying the variables of interest, data extraction standardisation and analysis. Ethics and dissemination: this protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (CEP) of the Research Coordinating Center of Brazil (CEP of the Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceicao), on 29 January 2021, under approval No. 4.515.519 and by the National Research Ethics Commission (CONEP), on 5 February 2021, under approval No. 4.526.456. The project results will be explained in WHO reports and published in international peer-reviewed journals, and summaries will be provided to the funders of the study

Fatores associados à chance de realização de cesariana primária em hospital universitário

Objective: The present study seeks to identify the associated factors that increased primary cesarean delivery rates. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that evaluated the number of primary cesarean sections performed in the years 2006 and 2018 at the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA, in the Portuguese acronym), through the collection of data from the medical records of the patients. Results: Advanced maternal age, twin pregnancy, and higher body mass index (BMI) became more frequent in 2018 in comparison with 2006. To mitigate the impact of confounding in comparisons among groups, we made an adjustment by propensity scores and detected significant differences when comparing both age groups on twin pregnancy rates, gestational diabetes mellitus, and thyroid disease. Conclusion: Data from the present study can be used to prevent and improve the management of morbidities, impacting on better outcomes in obstetrical practice.Objetivo: O presente estudo busca identificar os fatores associados que aumentamas taxas de partos cesáreos primários. Métodos: Estudo transversal, avaliando o número de cesáreas primárias realizadas nos anos de 2006 e 2018 no Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), pormeio da coleta de dados nos prontuários das pacientes. Resultados: Idade materna avançada, gravidez gemelar e índice de massa corporal (IMC) mais elevado tornaram-se mais frequentes em 2018. Para mitigar o impacto dos fatores de confusão nas comparações entre os grupos, fizemos um ajuste por escores de propensão e detectamos diferenças significativas nas taxas de gravidez gemelar, diabetes mellitus gestacional e doença da tireoide. Conclusão: Os dados do presente estudo podem ser utilizados para prevenir e melhorar o manejo de morbidades, impactando em melhores resultados na prática obstétrica

Modeling the impact of child vaccination (5–11 y) on overall COVID-19 related hospitalizations and mortality in a context of omicron variant predominance and different vaccination coverage paces in Brazil

Background Developing countries have experienced significant COVID-19 disease burden. With the emergence of new variants, particularly omicron, the disease burden in children has increased. When the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in children aged 5–11 years of age, very few countries recommended vaccination due to limited risk-benefit evidence for vaccination of this population. In Brazil, ranking second in the global COVID-19 death toll, the childhood COVID-19 disease burden increased significantly in early 2022. This prompted a risk-benefit assessment of the introduction and scaling-up of COVID-19 vaccination of children. Methods To estimate the potential impact of vaccinating children aged 5–11 years with mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine in the context of omicron dominance, we developed a discrete-time SEIR-like model stratified in age groups, considering a three-month time horizon. We considered three scenarios: No vaccination, slow, and maximum vaccination paces. In each scenario, we estimated the potential reduction in total COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths, hospitalization costs, and potential years of life lost, considering the absence of vaccination as the base-case scenario. Findings We estimated that vaccinating at a maximum pace could prevent, between mid-January and April 2022, about 26,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations, and 4200 deaths in all age groups; of which 5400 hospitalizations and 410 deaths in children aged 5–11 years. Continuing vaccination at a slow/current pace would prevent 1450 deaths and 9700 COVID-19 hospitalizations in all age groups in this same time period; of which 180 deaths and 2390 hospitalizations in children only. Interpretation Maximum vaccination of children results in a significant reduction of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths and should be enforced in developing countries with significant disease incidence in children