Interim CPSP results find that children are at lower risk of severe disease from acute SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)

OTTAWA — Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for Canadian paediatric-specific data was identified. In response, the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP) was leveraged to capture near real-time data, including detailed clinical information on all hospitalizations in children and youth under 18 with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19).

While researchers continue to collect and analyze data, preliminary results find that acute COVID-19 in Canadian children is mild compared to cases in adults.

As of August 26, 111 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized children and youth have been reported to the CPSP. Compared with 13.5% of patients of all ages, only 1.3% of children diagnosed with COVID-19 have been hospitalized. Furthermore, approximately half of those children were hospitalized for a reason unrelated to COVID-19 (e.g., a COVID-19 infection was found upon routine admission screening for a previously scheduled procedure or trauma). No deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported to the CPSP.

“While we are still learning about this new disease, we hope that these preliminary results will give some confidence to families as children return to in-person schooling,” said Dr. Fatima Kakkar, a principal investigator on the study and pediatric infectious diseases specialist at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal.

Because the current data was collected while most schools were closed, and children had less exposure to individuals outside their homes, the researchers highlight the importance of continued child and youth-focused surveillance

“We will continue to monitor cases and trends through the fall, and we will share these results with clinicians and public health decision makers. We are pleased to help inform evidence- based decisions supporting the health and well-being of Canadian children,” explained Dr Shaun Morris, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist and study principal investigator from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

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Note: Although the case definition was expanded to include cases of Multi-system inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) in May 2020, these interim results do not include details on those cases. Analysis of MIS-C cases are underway, and early results will be communicated as soon as they are available.

The Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (www.cpsp.cps.ca), a joint initiative of the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society, contributes to the improvement of the health of children and youth in Canada by national surveillance and research into childhood disorders that are high in disability, morbidity and economic costs to society, despite their low frequency.