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Multicenter Study
. 2022 Dec;52(6):1762-1770.
doi: 10.55730/1300-0144.5521. Epub 2022 Dec 21.

COVID-19 in pediatric nephrology centers in Turkey

Emre Leventoğlu  1 , Yeşim Özdemir Atikel  2 , Hülya Nalçacıoğlu  3 , İsmail Dursun  4 , Hasan Dursun  5 , Zeynep Nagehan Yürük Yıldırım  6 , Nurdan Yıldız  7 , Gülşah Kaya Aksoy  8 , Mehmet Taşdemir  9 , Mehtap Çelakıl  10 , Beltinge Demircioğlu Kılıç  11 , Şenay Zırhlı Selçuk  12 , Nur Canpolat  13 , Evrim Kargın Çakıcı  14 , Sare Gülfem Özlü  15 , Sebahat Tülpar  16 , Selçuk Yüksel  17 , Bahriye Atmış  18 , Serra Sürmeli Döven  19 , Sevgin Taner  20 , Pelin Ertan  21 , Aslı Kavaz Tufan  22 , Meral Torun Bayram  23 , Mukaddes Kalyoncu  24 , Kaan Savaş Gülleroğlu  25 , Süleyman Caner Kabasakal  26 , Belde Kasap Demir  27 , Rumeysa Yasemin Çiçek Gülşan  28 , Ilmay Bilge  9 , Osman Dönmez  29 , Aslıhan Kara  30 , Önder Yavaşcan  31 , Gül Özçelik  32 , Deniz Gezgin Yıldırım  1 , Muhammet Akif Güler  33 , Ferah Sönmez  34 , Muammer Hakan Poyrazoğlu  4 , Sema Akman  8 , Rezan Topaloğlu  35 , Harika Alpay  7 , Sevcan Azime Bakkaloğlu Ezgü  1
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

COVID-19 in pediatric nephrology centers in Turkey

Emre Leventoğlu et al. Turk J Med Sci. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Background: There is limited data on COVID-19 disease in children with kidney disease. We aimed to investigate the characteristics and prognosis of COVID-19 in pediatric nephrology patients in Turkey.

Methods: This was a national, multicenter, retrospective cohort study based on an online survey evaluating the data between 11th March 2020 and 11th March 2021 as an initial step of a detailed pediatric nephrology COVID-19 registry.

Results: Two hundred and three patients (89 girls and 114 boys) were diagnosed with COVID-19. One-third of these patients (36.9%) were between 10-15 years old. Half of the patients were on kidney replacement therapy: kidney transplant (KTx) recipients (n = 56, 27.5%), patients receiving chronic hemodialysis (n = 33, 16.3%) and those on peritoneal dialysis (PD) (n = 18, 8.9%). Fifty-four (26.6%) children were asymptomatic. Eighty-two (40.3%) patients were hospitalized and 23 (28%) needed intensive care unit admission. Fifty-five percent of the patients were not treated, while the remaining was given favipiravir (20.7%), steroid (16.3%), and hydroxychloroquine (11.3%). Acute kidney injury developed in 19.5% of hospitalized patients. Five (2.4%) had MIS-C. Eighty-three percent of the patients were discharged without any apparent sequelae, while 7 (3.4%) died. One hundred and eight health care staff were infected during the study period.

Discussion: COVID-19 was most commonly seen in patients who underwent KTx and received HD. The combined immunosuppressive therapy and frequent exposure to the hospital setting may increase these patients' susceptibility. Staff infections before vaccination era were alarming, various precautions should be taken for infection control, particularly optimal vaccination coverage.

Keywords: COVID-19; Children; Turkey; kidney; pediatric nephrology.

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