Research Study Findings from National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital Update Understanding of COVID-19 (Neurological Symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Pediatric Patients): Coronavirus – COVID-19

CDC & FDA Daily

2023 JUN 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at CDC & FDA Daily -- Current study results on COVID-19 have been published. According to news reporting out of Goyang, South Korea, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes various neurological symptoms in children, as well as respiratory symptoms, and the number of reported cases is increasing with the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants. This study aimed to investigate the neurological symptoms and incidence in pediatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19.”

Financial supporters for this research include National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital: “We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients under the age of 18 diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction from December 2020 to March 2022. We reviewed data on the age of confirmed COVID-19 patients, fever, and respiratory, gastrointestinal, and neurological symptoms. We evaluated the chief complaints of hospitalization and classified them as non-neurological or neurological, according to the chief complaints that caused the most discomfort. Among 376 patients, 63 (16.8%) and 313 (83.2%) patients were classified as having neurological and non-neurological symptoms, respectively. The most common neurological symptoms were headache (49, 13.0%), followed by seizures (39, 10.4%), myalgia (24, 6.4%), and dizziness (14, 3.7%). Additionally, there were patients with anosmia (nine, 2.4%), ageusia (four, 1.1%), and visual disturbance (two, 0.5%). Of the 39 patients who experienced seizures, 15 (15/39, 51.7%) had no symptoms except fever, and seizures were the only main presenting symptom of SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Neurological symptoms are common in pediatric COVID-19 patients. Seizures can be an early symptom of SARS-CoV-2 infection and should not be underestimated during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

For more information on this research see: Neurological Symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Pediatric Patients. Annals of Child Neurology, 2022,30(3):111-119. The publisher for Annals of Child Neurology is Korean Child Neurology Society.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.26815/acn.2022.00199.

Our news journalists report that more information may be obtained by contacting Donghwa Yang, Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, South Korea. Additional authors for this research include Hoon-Chul Kang.