Criteria for referral of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection: a real-life experience in the pandemic era
- PDF / 483,868 Bytes
- 3 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 47 Downloads / 156 Views
(2020) 46:181
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Open Access
Criteria for referral of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection: a real-life experience in the pandemic era Carlotta Montagnani1†, Elisabetta Venturini1†, Manuela L’Erario2, Chiara Tersigni3, Barbara Bortone1, Leila Bianchi1, Francesca Menegazzo4, Giuseppe Indolfi5, Elena Chiappini1,3 and Luisa Galli1,3* Abstract A practical guidance on the management of children with COVID-19 to insure homogeneous criteria for referral to a higher-level facility, according to the disease severity, is pivotal in the pandemic era. A panel of experts in pediatric infectious diseases and intensive care at the tertiary-care Meyer Children’s University Hospital, Florence, Italy, issued a practical document shared with Tuscany hospitals. The rationale was to target the referral for those children at risk of requiring an intensive support, since the above mentioned hospital has the pediatric intensive care unit. Overall, 378 patients between 0 and 19 years of age were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection in the Tuscany region with 24 (6.3%) hospitalizations. Only three children were centralized to Meyer Children’s University Hospital according to reported criteria. Considering that appropriate referral criteria have been associated with reduced mortality in other conditions, our document might be useful to improve outcomes of children with COVID-19. Keywords: SARS CoV-2, Children, Referral criteria, COVID-19 To the Editor, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) [1]. Due to the spreading of SARS-CoV-2 in Italy, a guidance on the management of children with COVID-19 is needed in order to insure homogeneous criteria for referral to a higher-level facility, according to the disease severity. A panel of experts in pediatric infectious diseases and intensive care, currently in a multidisciplinary group for COVID-19 care at the tertiary-care Meyer Children’s University Hospital, Florence, Italy, issued a practical document that has * Correspondence: [email protected] Carlotta Montagnani and Elisabetta Venturini are first author. 1 Infectious Diseases Unit, Meyer Children’s University Hospital, Florence, Italy 3 Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
been shared with Tuscany hospitals. The rationale was to target the referral for those children at risk of requiring an intensive support, since the above mentioned hospital has the pediatric intensive care unit. Overall, 378 patients between 0 and 19 years of age were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection in the Tuscany region, up to 31 July 2020. Of these, 24 (6.3%) have been hospitalized in Tuscany hospitals [2]. In particular, 14 children have been admitted to Meyer Children’s University Hospital and only 3 of them (21.4%) were centralized from other hospitals (two infants because under 3 months of age and one 14 years old age with a genetic disorder). None of the children w
Data Loading...
