How safe are children with COVID-19 from cardiac risks? Pediatric risk assesment; insights from echocardiography and electrocardiography
Background/aim
Approximately 40 million individuals worldwide have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Despite the current literature about the cardiac effects of COVID-19 in children, more information is required. We aimed to determine both cardiovascular and arrhythmia assessment via electrocardiographic and echocardiographic parameters.


Materials and methods
We evaluated seventy children who were hospitalized with COVID-19 infections and seventy children as normal control group through laboratory findings, electrocardiography (ECG), and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE).


Results
We observed significantly increased levels of Tp-Te, Tp-Te/QT, and Tp-Te/QTc compared with the control group. Twenty-five of 70 (35.7%) patients had fragmented QRS (fQRS) without increased troponin levels. On the other hand, none of the patients had pathologic corrected QT(QTc) prolongation during the illness or its treatment. On TTE, 20 patients had mild mitral insufficiency, among whom only five had systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction < 55%). There was no significant difference between the patient and control groups, except for isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT) in terms of mean systolic and diastolic function parameters. IVRT of COVID patients was significantly lower than that of control group.


Conclusion
Despite all the adult studies, the effects of COVID‐19 on myocardial function are not well established in children. The thought that children are less affected by the illness may be a misconception.
['Çevik|Berna Şaylan|BŞ|0000-0002-5384-4982', 'Arıcı|Şule|Ş|0000-0003-0532-6782', 'Ergenç|Zeynep|Z|0000-0002-4547-6489', 'Kepenekli|Eda|E|0000-0003-1886-5224', 'Günal|Özge|Ö|0000-0002-5960-885X', 'Yakut|Nurhayat|N|0000-0002-6383-0568']
D000086382:COVID-19 D002648:Child D015897:Comorbidity D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D004452:Echocardiography D004562:Electrocardiography D005260:Female D006331:Heart Diseases D006801:Humans D008297:Male D058873:Pandemics D012189:Retrospective Studies D018570:Risk Assessment D012307:Risk Factors D000086402:SARS-CoV-2 D014421:Turkey
Children COVID-19 risk electrocardiography