Results from world’s largest study of hospital patients with COVID-19

Children and teenagers are less likely than adults to develop severe Covid-19 or die from the disease, according to the world’s largest study of hospital patients with Covid-19. Obesity, Black ethnicity and being under one month old are factors that increased the risk of a child being admitted into intensive care with the condition, the report said. The findings also identify new symptoms of a severe inflammation syndrome that significantly increases the risk of children with Covid-19 needing intensive care. Researchers are calling for the WHO’s definition of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) to be updated to help doctors identify more children with the condition and improve their treatment. Hospital patients The team led by researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Liverpool, Imperial College London and the Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow, recruited 651 children and young people aged 19 years or less who had been admitted to hospital with Covid-19. The study is...