http://dx.doi.org/10.46889/JPAR.2023.2204 https://athenaeumpub.com/journal-of-pediatric-advance-research/ Research Article Computational Analysis of Cardiovascular Effects of COVID-19 Infection in Children L Ruffino 1 , A Santoro 1 , S Sparvieri 1 , F Regazzoni 1 , DA Adebo 2 , AM Quarteroni 1 , C Vergara 1 , AF Corno 3* 1 MOX, Department of Mathematics, University Politecnico of Milan, Milan, Italy 2 McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, USA 3 School of Engineering, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK *Correspondence author: Antonio F Corno, MD, FRCS, FACC, FETCS, School of Engineering, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7HR, UK; Email: tonycorno2@gmail.com Abstract Background: The COVID-19 disease can involve any body part; nevertheless, the most serious consequences affect respiratory and cardiocirculatory systems with variable symptoms. Although the effects of COVID-19 are not fully understood yet, clinical evidence has shown that the virus may cause acute myocardial injury and chronic damages to heart and blood vessels. There is no or limited experience on pathophysiological effects of COVID-19 infection in children’s cardiovascular system. The aim of this work is to assess t he effects of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system in children, in terms, e.g., of increased pulmonary resistances, reduced cardiac contraction capacity. Methods: We used a computational model based on lumped parameters to describe the whole blood circulation. The model was calibrated to account for data coming from pediatric patients. Results: There were total of 17 pediatric patients diagnosed to have COVID-19 infection based on laboratory and clinical findings. The median age was 15 years (range 7 to 17 years), median weight 61 kg (range 25 to 153 kg), median height 165 cm (range 132 to 191 cm) and median body surface area 1.7 (range 0.95 to 2.8). Our results highlighted that the effect of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system in all children was characterized by the reduction in cardiac blood pressures and volumes. We analyzed in detail two patients showing a correlation between myocardial compromise and severity of the infection. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that COVID-19 infection causes a complex pathophysiological state to the cardiovascular system, both in asymptomatic and symptomatic pediatric patients. This information is very helpful to prevent long term cardiovascular complications of COVID-19 infection in children. A prospective study with regular cardiology follow-up is recommended. Keywords: Cardiac MRI; Cardiovascular System; Children; Computational Model COVID-19 Abbreviations List SYSVEN: Systemic Venous Circulation; PULAR: Pulmonary Arterial Circulation; PULVEN: Pulmonary Venous Circulation; SYSAR: Systemic Arterial Circulation; EA: Active Elastance; EB: Passive Elastance; EDV: End Diastolic Volume; ESV: End Systolic Volume; SV: Stroke Volume; EF: Ejection Fraction Introduction The COVID-19 disease (Coronavirus Disease 2019) is due to an infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Coronaviruses are a large family of RNA viruses affecting the respiratory system, with symptoms ranging from simple flu to pneumonia and can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. In the past two years, COVID-19 in Europe and worldwide has risen to the top of the main causes of death [1]. Citation: Corno AF, et al. Computational Analysis of Cardiovascular Effects of COVID-19 Infection in Children. J Pediatric Adv Res. 2023;2(2):1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.46889/JPAR.2023. 2204 Received Date: 29-07-2023 Accepted Date: 16-08-2023 Published Date: 24-08-2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CCBY) license (https://creativecommons.org/li censes/by/4.0/).