Comorbid COVID-19 in Children That Needs to be Watched by Doctors

Jakarta –

Cases of COVID-19 in children need attention, Mother. Moreover, recently a spike in COVID-19 cases has occurred in Indonesia.

Pediatrician at Pondok Indah Hospital, dr. William Jayadi Iskandar Sp.A, said that Indonesia is one of the countries with the highest child cases in the world. Until now, 1 in 8 COVID-19 patients in Indonesia is a child patient.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has not ended since it was first discovered in Indonesia two years ago. Indonesia has also become one of the countries that has the most pediatric COVID-19 patients in the world,” William told HiMomrecently.

In the case of COVID-19 in children, one thing to watch out for is comorbidity. According to William, comorbidity is a condition or disease in a child that can aggravate the degree of COVID-19 infection.

William explained, based on research by Tsankov et al in 2021, the incidence of severe COVID-19 in children with comorbidities reached 5.1 percent. This is much different in children without comorbidities, which is 0.2 percent.

“In addition, the risk of death of children with comorbidities is 2.8 times higher than children without comorbidities,” he said.

In general, significant comorbidities are conditions of immune deficiency or immunodeficiency. This is as found in patients with malnutrition, HIV/AIDS infection, cancer or malignancy, and patients receiving long-term corticosteroid drug therapy.

In a study by Ward et al in 2021, it was found that risk factors for severe COVID-19 who were treated in the pediatric intensive care unit included young age and comorbidities such as:

• Malignancy or cancer: 9.7 times
• Heart disease: 15.4 times
• Nervous disease: 12.3 times
• Other respiratory diseases: 11.1 times

In this study, it is also explained about the most common diseases that improve treatment in pediatric cases. Read the next page, yes, Mother.

Also check out 6 self-isolation guidelines for children affected by COVID-19, in the following video:

[Gambas:Video Haibunda]