PM2039: Epidemiology of COVID-19 and MIS-C Hospitalizations for Children in West Texas

Background: Over the past two years, COVID-19 has spread worldwide, resulting in changes in healthcare, public health, and the introduction of novel diseases. The clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children differ significantly from adults. We compared the clinical and demographic characteristics of children requiring hospital admission in our region for acute COVID-19 and MIS-C during the first year of the pandemic.
We aimed to explore the associations of patient demographic characteristics and presentation with severe acute COVID-19 and MIS-C as well as resource utilization. Additionally, we estimated the hospital rate of admission of children with Acute COVID-19 and MIS-C in West Texas

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of pediatric patients 18 and under admitted from April 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021, with MIS-C or acute COVID-19. We collected demographic and clinical information via direct chart review. We generated descriptive statistics of patient characteristics for acute COVID and MIS-C admissions. We generated population-based estimates of hospital admission in children in our region.

Results: There were 159 subjects in the cohort including 39% (n=63) with acute COVID-19,26% (n=41) with MIS-C. and 35%(n=55) with incidental COVID. Excluding patients with an incidental diagnosis of COVID-19, there were 104 patients hospitalized secondary to acute COVID-19 or MIS-C. Patients in our cohort were predominantly male [acute COVID: n=38(59.7%) and MIS-C: n=22(53.7%)] The median age was 4 years, Interquartile range(IQR):15 for acute COVID and 9 years,IQR:8 for MIS-C. Length of stay was 4.1 days for MIS-C versus 3.5 days for acute COVID. For the largest county in the hospital catchment area there were 22 children hospitalized with acute COVID-19 (0.03% of the county’s children) and 20 hospitalized with MIS-C (0.027% of the county’s children). Overall, resource utilization for laboratory studies and imaging was similar for both acute COVID and MIS-C.

Conclusion: These data indicate that hospitalization is a rare aspect of pediatric COVID-19 disease, but both acute COVID and MIS-C played a significant role in the burden of inpatient disease for pediatric patients in our region during the first year of the pandemic. Further investigations should explore the role of newer variants in the epidemiology of pediatric patients requiring hospital care for COVID-19 related conditions.