International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | January 2022 | Vol 10 | Issue 1 Page 133 International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences Patra B et al. Int J Res Med Sci. 2022 Jan;10(1):133-140 www.msjonline.org pISSN 2320-6071 | eISSN 2320-6012 Original Research Article Morbidity, mortality and clinico-laboratory profile of COVID-19 related illness in children: a retrospective observational study from a tertiary care centre in India Bijoy Patra 1 *, Manju Nimesh 1 , Parasdeep Kaur 1 , Sumantha Patil 1 , Hema Gupta 1 , Sarita Jilowa 2 , Dheeraj Bahl 1 INTRODUCTION Since the outbreak of the clusters of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan city of China in December 2019, and subsequent identification of SARS-CoV-2 as its etiology and designation of the disease as COVID-19 by WHO, COVID has become a gigantic pandemic and has ravaged the whole globe. The world is grappling to have a grip over the disease, and the full spectrum of the infections and its consequences are still unravelling. 1- 3 Amidst this bleak scenario, the pediatric population accounted for a significantly lesser number of cases and have witnessed milder forms of disease with better outcomes compared to adults. As per the available data from China and other western countries, the pediatric population accounts for 1-5% of all diagnosed COVID- 19 cases. 4-6 The studies have also reported that children are not only at low risk of contracting the infection but have a lesser degree of disease severity possibly due to a healthy respiratory system, fewer outdoor activities, protective immunity due to other viral infections, and premature ACE2 receptors. 7,8 With the progression of pandemic over time, pediatric morbidity and mortality related to COVID-19 infection are being noted to rise 1 Department of Pediatrics, 2 Department of Radiology, ABVIMS and Dr. RML Hospital, Delhi, India Received: 22 August 2021 Revised: 13 September 2021 Accepted: 06 December 2021 *Correspondence: Dr. Bijoy Patra, E-mail: bijoy_patra@yahoo.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: As India is poised for a third wave of SARS Co-V2 infection with a large unvaccinated pediatric population, it becomes imperative and pertinent for a study to find out its demographic, clinico-laboratory profile, and outcome in children with COVID-19 disease and its related illness. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study undertaken for Children and Adolescent admitted in the department of pediatrics of a teaching and tertiary care referral hospital, Delhi. Results: The median age of admitted children with COVID-19 disease was 11 years with an interquartile range 3 to 16 years. The median duration of hospital stay was 10 days (mean: 18±14 days). Mortality was 9/62 (14%). Recovery in non-severe (asymptomatic, mild, moderate) was 41/41 (100%), and in severe and critical illness including MISC was 42.8% (9/21). Mortality in severe and critical patients managed in SARI and COVID ward was 44% (8/18). Death among MISC patient in PICU was 33% (1/3). Difference in CRP rise was significant in severe and non-severe group of COVID-19 (p=0.017). Conclusions: Even though the morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19 infection and related illness seems to be miniscule, the infection causes significant illness in the subgroup of children who requires hospitalization and can be fatal in those with comorbidity. Keywords: Morbidity, Mortality, Clinico-laboratory profile, COVID-19, MISC DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20215044