COVID-19 in a tertiary paediatric centre in Portugal: a single-centre retrospective study.

Objective: To describe the demographic, clinical, laboratory and imaging features of the first 300 SARS-CoV-2-infected children presenting to a tertiary paediatric centre in Portugal.
Design: Single-centre, retrospective, descriptive study of paediatric patients who had a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from 7 March to 20 September 2020.
Setting: Tertiary paediatric referral centre (Hospital Dona Estefânia, Lisbon, Portugal).
Patients: 18 years or younger.
Main Outcome Measures: Incidence, mortality, age of infection, clinical characteristics, treatment prescribed and outcome.
Results: Three hundred patients with confirmed COVID-19 presented to the centre. One hundred and seventeen (39%) patients were admitted to the hospital: 69 with COVID-19 and 48 for other reasons. The most common symptoms in children admitted with COVID-19 were fever (49) and cough (38). Six patients required intensive care. Two children died and seven reported short-term sequelae.
Conclusions: COVID-19 is usually a mild disease in children, but a small proportion of patients develop severe and critical disease. Fatal outcomes were rare and only occurred in children with severe previous medical conditions.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.
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