Abstract

Background: Ever since the appearance of acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan in mid-December 2019, its spread has been dramatic worldwide. It became apparent that the number of pediatric COVID-19 patients was much lower than in adults. Variable clinical presentations and progression have characterized morbidity and mortality in children and young adults.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the characteristics of the COVID-19 among children and adolescents 20 years and below in Northern Uganda and determine factors associated with treatment outcomes in the study population.

Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted a retrospective data abstraction of the COVID-19 patients registered in the Gulu Hospital Health Management Information System (HMIS) database and other tools. The study covered the period between March 2020 and October 2021. Data that met the inclusion criteria were consecutively mined from the Gulu Hospital HMIS database. A local IRB approved the study. SPSS version 25.0 was used for data analysis, and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: There were 41 COVID-19 patients 20 years and below among the 664 total COVID-19 patient population, constituting 41/664(6.2%) of the COVID-19 patients treated at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital from March 2020 to October 2021. The median age was 19 years (range 13 to 20 years), the mean age was 18.2 years SD+1.95 at 95% CI: 17.51-18.74. Females constituted 58.5% of the study population. The mean duration of hospital stay was 14.44 days SD+10.45 at 95% CI: 11.14-17.74, and the mean duration of symptoms at admission were 7.96 days SD+7.38 at 95% CI: 4.84-11.07. The comorbidities were cardiovascular diseases 3/41(7.3%) and hypertension 3/41(7.3%) and were not in the same patients. Pneumonia 1/41(3.3%) and acute liver injury 1/41(3.3%) were the observed complications. The morbidity and mortality rates were 2/41(4.9%) and 0/41(0.0%), respectively. Participants’ symptoms, signs, complications, and comorbidities by gender were not statistically significant.

Conclusion: Data showed excellent treatment outcomes of the COVID-19 among children and adolescents 20 years and below in Northern Uganda with a recovery rate of 100.0%. The burden of symptoms of the illness, comorbidities, and complications was fewer. There is a need to conduct more extensive studies on the role played by age in the successful recovery of COVID-19 patients, even in a low-resource milieu.

Keywords: Adolescents; COVID-19; Recovery; Morbidity; Mortality