Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34309989›Full record

SynthesisInternational journal of clinical practice2021

Effect of age of COVID-19 inpatient on the severity of the disease: A meta-analysis.

Shaoqing Chai, Yan Li, Xuemei Li, Jie Tan, Mohamed E A Abdelrahim, Xiaoxiao Xu

Open access · greenAbstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in International journal of clinical practice, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 18% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Shaoqing ChaiDepartment of Pediatrics, Inner Mongolia People's Hospital, Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia, China.
Yan LiDepartment of Pediatric Outpatient, Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, Chongqing, China.
Xuemei LiDepartment of Pediatric Outpatient, Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, Chongqing, China.
Jie TanDepartment of Pediatric Outpatient, Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, Chongqing, China.
Mohamed E A AbdelrahimClinical Pharmacy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0227-8404
Xiaoxiao XuDepartment of Pediatric Outpatient, Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children, Chongqing, China.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7777-9890
Beni-Suef University · EGInner Mongolia People's Hospital · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundClinical symptoms of adults and paediatric inpatients with COVID-19 disease are conflicting. This meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effect of age of COVID-19 inpatient on the severity of the disease.

methodsA systematic literature search up to January 2021 was performed and 5 studies included 910 inpatients with COVID-19 disease at the baseline of the study; 773 of them were adult inpatients, and 137 of them were paediatric inpatients. They reported a comparison between adults and children with COVID-19 in the level of symptomatic severity, clinical features, computed tomography (CT) results and laboratory results. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated assessing the effect of age of COVID-19 inpatient on the severity of the disease using the dichotomous method with a random or fixed-effect model.

resultsAdults with COVID-19 disease had significantly lower number of mild cases (OR, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.04-0.77, P = .02); higher number severe cases (OR, 4.90; 95% CI, 2.03-11.83, P < .001); higher number of cases with fever (OR, 4.14; 95% CI, 2.31-7.43, P < .001); and higher number of cases with CT positive COVID-19 disease (OR, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.17-3.55, P = .001) compared with children. However, no significant difference was found between adults and children in number of cases with shortness of breath (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 0.41-5.04, P = .57); dry cough (OR, 1.77; 95% CI, 0.64-4.93, P = .27); leukopenia (OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.47-1.66, P = .71); lymphopenia (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.49-1.88, P = .91); high platelets (OR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.17-1.02, P = .05); and high D-dimer (OR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.43-1.56, P = .54).

conclusionsAdults with COVID-19 disease have a much higher level of symptomatic severity, fever and CT-positive COVID-19 disease than children. However, as shown in our results, the laboratory data were similar in both groups.

Indexed as

COVID-19InpatientsAdultChildCoughFeverHumansSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID34309989
PMCPMC8420229
OpenAlexW3186009747

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.