COVID-19 in Children with Cancer: A Retrospective Study

Kolsoum  Albooativi; Farzaneh  Hematian; Kaveh  Jaseb; Leila  Kouti; Mohammadreza  Mirkarimi

doi:10.18502/igj.v9i2.22046

Kolsoum Albooativi Student Research Committee, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Farzaneh Hematian Department of Clinical Pharmacy, faculty of Pharmacy, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Kaveh Jaseb Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathy Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Leila Kouti Department of Clinical Pharmacy, faculty of Pharmacy, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Mohammadreza Mirkarimi Department of Pediatric, faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/igj.v9i2.22046

Keywords: Cancer; Children; COVID-19; Malignancy; Mortality

Abstract

Background: The emerging COVID-19 is less common in children than adults and has fewer symptoms. However, there are more concerns about the severity of symptoms in patients’ kids undergoing chemotherapy. This study aimed to investigate COVID-19 infection in pediatric cancer patients.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of 302 patients with COVID-19 infection confirmed by RT-PCR test and aged ≤18, referred to a multi-specialized pediatric hospital, Ahvaz-Iran, from 2020-2021. Children were divided into two groups: malignant (n = 31) and non-malignant (n = 271).

Results: The median age of the patient was 7 years. 73.7 % of the patients were male. The most common symptom was cough (47.36%). On admission, leucopenia was recorded in 63.15% of malignancy patients. The Outcomes death was %0.7 and %3.2 in the malignancy and Controls groups, respectively. There was a statistically significant reduc- tion between the malignancy and Controls group (P=0.02). Also, in terms of myalgia, the group of children with malignancy showed a lower percentage than the control group or non-cancerous children (P=0.04). Laboratory data showed that leukopenia, CRP, and ferritin levels caused by COVID-19 disease in children with malignancy were not significantly different from healthy children (p> 0.05).

Conclusion: COVID-19 mortality in children with malignancy is significantly lower than in non-cancerous chil- dren. Further studies are needed to understand the course of COVID-19 infection in children with cancer.