Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Virol. Sep 25, 2022; 11(5): 321-330
Published online Sep 25, 2022. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v11.i5.321
Manifestations of COVID-19 infection in children with malignancy: A single-center experience in Jordan
Mousa Ahmad Qatawneh, Moath Altarawneh, Ruba Alhazaimeh, Mais Jazazi, Omaiema Jarrah, Alaa Shorman, Laila Alsadah, Maher Mustafa
Mousa Ahmad Qatawneh, Moath Altarawneh, Ruba Alhazaimeh, Mais Jazazi, Omaiema Jarrah, Maher Mustafa, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Unit, Queen Rania Children’s Hospital, Royal Medical Services, Amman 11183, Jordan
Alaa Shorman, Department of Neonatology, Queen Rania Children’s Hospital, Royal Medical Services, Amman 11183, Jordan
Laila Alsadah, Department of General Pediatrics, Queen Rania Children’s Hospital, Royal Medical Services, Amman 11183, Jordan
Author contributions: Qatawneh MA, Jazazi M, and Mutafa M substantially contributed to the conception and design of the work; Altarawneh M, Jazazi M, and Shorman A substantially contributed to the data collection; Alhazaimeh R, Shorman A, and Alsadah L substantially contributed to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data; Qatawneh MA, Alhazaimeh R, and Jarrah O contributed to drafting or revising the manuscript critically for important intellectual content; Qatawneh MA, Altarawneh M, and Mustafa M gave final approval of the version to be published and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Institutional review board statement: This retrospective study was approved by the Ethical committee of the Jordanian Medical Services.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent forms were obtained from all the patients.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: The clinical data of this article are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mousa Ahmad Qatawneh, MD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Staff Physician, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation Unit, Queen Rania Children’s Hospital, Royal Medical Services, Dabouq, Amman 11183, Jordan. dr_m_qatawneh@yahoo.com
Received: February 19, 2022
Peer-review started: February 19, 2022
First decision: June 16, 2022
Revised: June 28, 2022
Accepted: September 2, 2022
Article in press: September 2, 2022
Published online: September 25, 2022
Processing time: 216 Days and 18.1 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been the cause of a global health crisis since the end of 2019. All countries are following the guidelines and re-commendations released by the World Health Organization to decrease the spread of the disease. Children account for only 3%-5% of COVID-19 cases. Few data are available regarding the clinical course, disease severity, and mode of treatment in children with malignancy and COVID-19.

AIM

To evaluate the treatment plan and outcome of children with malignancy who contracted COVID-19.

METHODS

A retrospective study of the medical files of patients with malignancy who contracted COVID-19 between July 2020 and June 2021 was performed. The following data were reviewed for all patients: primary disease, laboratory data, admission ward, clinical status upon admission, disease course, treatment plan, and outcome. Eligible patients were those with malignancy who tested positive for COVID-19 by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS

A total of 40 patients who had malignancy contracted COVID-19 from July 1, 2020 to June 1, 2021. Their primary diseases were as follows: 34 patients (85%) had hematological malignancies (30 had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 2 had acute myeloblastic leukemia, and 2 had Hodgkin lymphoma), whereas 6 patients (15%) had solid tumors (2 had neuroblastoma, 2 had rhabdomyosarcoma, and 2 had central nervous system tumors). Twelve patients (30%) did not need hospitalization and underwent home isolation only, whereas twenty-eight patients (70%) required hospitalization (26 patients were admitted in the COVID-19 ward and 2 were admitted in the pediatric intensive care unit).

CONCLUSION

COVID-19 with malignancy in the pediatric age group has a benign course and does not increase the risk of having severe infection compared to other children.

Keywords: COVID-19; Malignancy; Disease severity score; Children; Jordan

Core Tip: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a global health crisis since the end of 2019. This retrospective study describes the manifestation of COVID-19 in our oncology patients who were treated at Queen Rania Children’s Hospital between July 2021 and June 2021, focusing on the initial presentation, clinical course and management plan and comparing these results with the international data worldwide to determine the optimal way to care for oncology patients during the COVID-19 crisis.