Research Information System
The Journal of Pediatric Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine, vol.12, no.2, pp.1-9, 2025 (ESCI)
Introduction: Respiratory viruses are the most common cause of morbidity and mortality in children around the world. Unlike other viral respiratory diseases, recommendations for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in children are mainly derived from adult data, and it has been difficult to differentiate COVID-19 from influenza by clinical manifestations that are earlier than viral identification. The study aims to compare clinical and laboratory characteristics that will enable healthcare workers to differentiate COVID-19 from influenza. Methods: This retrospective cohort study, conducted at a tertiary academic hospital’s pediatric emergency department from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021 focused on children with confirmed COVID-19 or influenza. We compared demographics, clinical features, laboratory/radiological findings, reatments, pediatric intensive care unit admissions, length of stay, mortality, and clinical outcomes between COVID-19 and influenza in pediatric populations, providing valuable insights into the two diseases during the specified period. Results: Six hundred and sixty-one children with COVID-19 and 499 children with influenza infection were included. In the vital signs at triage, significantly higher fever, tachypnea, and tachycardia were found in patients with influenza (p=0.001). In terms of chest X-ray (CXR) characteristics, 82.2% of the children in the COVID-19 group had normal CXR (p=0.001) while the children in the influenza group had more patchy involvement (p=0.003) and consolidation (p=0.001). Platelet counts in the COVID-19 group were significantly higher than those in the influenza group (p=0.001). Regarding infection-related biomarkers, the C-reactive protein level in the influenza cohort was significantly higher than in the COVID-19 cohort (4.92 mg/L vs. 0.94 mg/L, p=0.001).