Publication date: Jan 01, 2025
To investigate the prevalence of pulmonary embolism (PE) in children admitted to critical care diagnosed with COVID-19 infection. Retrospective database study. Data reported to the Virtual Pediatric Systems, 2018-2021. Patients 28 days to younger than 18 years old, admitted to a PICU with either PE or COVID-19 diagnoses. None. Among the PE-positive subgroups, from January 2020 to December 2021, 78 patients (14%) had an acute COVID-19 infection. The prevalence of PE pre-pandemic period (2018-2019) was 0. 19% and for pandemic period (2020-2021) was 0. 26% (p < 0. 001). During the pandemic period, the prevalence of PE for COVID-negative patients was 0. 21% and for COVID-positive patients was 1. 01% (p < 0. 001). The result shows that the chance to develop PE for COVID-positive patients is 4. 8 times that for COVID-negative patients during the pandemic. In the subgroup of the PE-positive patients, 55. 1% were Black or African American in the COVID-positive group and 19% in the COVID-negative group (p < 0. 001). A multivariable logistic regression showed that race was an independent risk factor for COVID in PE-positive patients. Our study demonstrates a significant increase in the prevalence of PE among pediatric patients admitted to PICUs during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with pre-pandemic. Our study indicates that COVID-positive patients are 4. 8 times more likely to develop PE than COVID-negative patients. Additionally, the study highlights substantial racial disparities in the prevalence of PE, with Black or African American patients being disproportionately affected.
Semantics
Type | Source | Name |
---|---|---|
disease | MESH | Pulmonary Embolism |
disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
disease | MESH | Critically Ill |
disease | MESH | infection |