Dödligt virus från Kina orsakar panik (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19)

Results
A total of 10 540 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 997 due to PIMS-TS were identified within 1 125 010 emergency hospitalizations for other causes. The number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and PIMS-TS per new SARS-CoV-2 infections in England declined during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among 10 540 hospitalized children and adolescents, 448 (4.3%) required PICU admission due to COVID-19, declining from 162 of 1635 (9.9%) with wild type, 98 of 1616 (6.1%) with Alpha, and 129 of 3789 (3.4%) with Delta to 59 of 3500 (1.7%) with Omicron. Forty-eight children and adolescents died within 28 days of hospitalization due to COVID-19, and no children died of PIMS-TS (PIMS-S data were limited to November 2020 onward). Risk of severe COVID-19 in children and adolescents was associated with medical comorbidities and neurodisability regardless of SARS-CoV-2 variant. Results were similar when children and adolescents with prior SARS-CoV-2 exposure or vaccination were excluded.

Overall, 6546 hospitalizations for primary COVID-19 (62.1%) were among children younger than 5 years. The age distribution varied over time, with those younger than 5 years forming a higher proportion during Omicron than during previous dominant variant periods. Children and adolescents from deprived neighborhoods and those who were Asian, Black, or of mixed ethnicity were overrepresented in hospitalizations throughout. We identified medical comorbidities in 4627 children (43.9%) and adolescents hospitalized with primary COVID-19, ranging from 1908 (29.1%) among children younger than 5 years to 1521 (69.5%) among those aged 12 to 17 years (eTable 2 in Supplement 1).