Evolution of the frequency cases of infection COVID-19 among children in relation to the evolution of the pandemic

Abstract

Aim: Evaluation of the frequency with COVID-19 infection in children hospitalized during the pandemic period in Republic of Moldova.

Methods: The study presents the evolution of the frequency of the number of children with COVID-19 hospitalized in the department of infectious diseases in Mother and Child Institute between January 2021-February 2022.968 children with COVID-19 infection were hospitalized with moderate and severe form,from the age of 2 days till 18 years.

Results: In January-February 2021, the hospitalization of children with COVID-19 was 2.2-2.8% of the total number of COVID-19 patients from the study. The increase of number of hospitalizations in March doubled(6.2%:95%CI 4.8-8.0),and in April it was 4.7%:95%CI3.5-6.2children. Since May there has been a significant decrease in hospitalized children(1.3-2.9%),and since July there has been a progressive increase in the number of hospitalizations of children with COVID-19 from 4.0%:95%CI2.9-5,5 to 8.5%:95%CI6.9-10.5(September) and 10.9%:95%CI9.0-13.1 in October-period when the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 dominated. The decrease in hospitalization in November(6.5%)and December (4.0%)was followed by the exponential increase in hospitalization of children with COVID-19 in January 2022(13.8%:95%CI11.7-16, 2)and February(25.7%:95%CI23.0-28.6). This increase in hospitalizations of children with COVID-19 in the first two months of 2022 was during the dominance of Omicron variant.

Conclusions: The frequency of hospitalization of children with COVID-19 infection was correlated with pandemic waves with an increase during the dominance of the Delta variant and the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2.