Abstract

A novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) led to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is a global health problem that occurred in waves and resulted in high mortality globally. This is a single-center retrospective study conducted in a Medical College’s dedicated COVID-19 hospital in India during the first wave (March-November 2020) and second wave (March-May 2021) of the COVID-19 pandemic on 104 children below 18 years of age to compare the clinical characteristics and outcome of COVID-19 patients during the first and second waves. During the first wave (n = 57, 54.8%), the majority of children (n = 36, 63.16%) were between 5–18 years, but during the second wave (n = 47, 62.09%), the majority of children (n = 29, 61.70%) were below 5 years. Neonates outnumbered during the second wave (n = 11, 23.4% vs. n = 1, 1.8%). Asymptomatic patients (n = 24, 42.1%) were common during the first wave, while severe-grade patients (n = 19, 40.4%) were common during the second wave. During both waves, fever and respiratory distress were the common symptoms followed by cough. Respiratory distress (p = 0.0003), C-reactive protein (p = 0.008), peripheral oxygen saturation

Key words: COVID-19, Children, First wave, Second Wave, D-dimer, Serum Ferritin, Procalcitonin, C Reactive Protein, Loss of smell and taste, LMW Heparin, Comorbidity