Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Dec 27;20(2):29.
doi: 10.3892/br.2023.1717. eCollection 2024 Feb.

Clinical characteristics and predictors of delayed discharge among children with SARS‑CoV‑2 Omicron variant infection

Yijuan Zheng  1 , Huatang Zhang  1 , Zhangyan Weng  1 , Haoyi He  1 , Wenhuang Chen  1   2 , Minghui Zheng  1 , Chengdi Chen  3 , Youxian Zheng  4 , Jianfeng Xie  5 , Kuicheng Zheng  5 , Jiming Zhang  6 , Baosong Xie  7 , Zhijun Su  1 , Xibin Zhuang  8 , Yongjun Zhou  9 , Xueping Yu  1
Affiliations

Clinical characteristics and predictors of delayed discharge among children with SARS‑CoV‑2 Omicron variant infection

Yijuan Zheng et al. Biomed Rep. .

Abstract

The present study investigated the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant and determined the risk factors for delayed discharge or release from isolation for pediatric patients in Quanzhou, China in 2022. There were 145, 254 and 23 patients in the asymptomatic, mildly symptomatic and moderately symptomatic categories, respectively. The proportion of pediatric patients in the moderately symptomatic category increased with increasing age. No child aged <1 year and 9.02% of patients aged 13-18 years were in the moderately symptomatic category. The proportion of patients with asymptomatic infection did not differ significantly by vaccination status. The median days until the first negative conversion of viral RNA was 11 days, and the median hospitalization duration was 16 days. Most symptoms appeared in the upper respiratory tract. Notably, ~33.23% of patients showed elevated aspartate aminotransferase levels. C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels, and lymphocyte counts were consistently lower in asymptomatic patients than those in in symptomatic patients. Adjusted logistic regression analyses indicated that IL-6 levels and time to the first negative conversion of viral RNA were independent risk factors for delayed discharge. The area under the curve of the regression model for predicting delayed discharge was 0.760. In conclusion, these results could facilitate the formulation of global epidemic prevention policies for pediatric patients.

Keywords: children; clinical characteristics; delayed discharge; risk factors; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Omicron variant.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Receiver-operating characteristic curve of the Y model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. WHO: COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update (2022). Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on....
    1. CoVariants. Available from: https://covariants.org/. 2022.
    1. WHO: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern 2022. Available from: https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-2021-classification-of-omicron-(b.1..... 2022.
    1. Jansen L, Tegomoh B, Lange K, Showalter K, Figliomeni J, Abdalhamid B, Iwen PC, Fauver J, Buss B, Donahue M. Investigation of a SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant cluster-Nebraska, November-December 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70:1782–1784. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm705152e3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Maslo C, Friedland R, Toubkin M, Laubscher A, Akaloo T, Kama B. Characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized patients in South Africa during the COVID-19 Omicron wave compared with previous waves. JAMA. 2022;327:583–584. doi: 10.1001/jama.2021.24868. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Grants and funding

Funding: The present study was supported by the Major Health Research Project of Fujian Province (grant no. 2021ZD01001), the Scientific and Technological Development Project of Central Government (grant no. 2021L3018), the Young and Middle-aged Talents Training Project of Fujian Provincial Health Commission (grant no. 2020GGA076), and the Science and Technology Innovation Joint Project of Fujian Province (grant no. 2019Y9048).