ArticleInfection2023
Comparing SARS-CoV-2 variants among children and adolescents in Germany: relative risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization, ICU admission and mortality.
Article in Infection, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Risk Factors for Pediatric Critical COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society · 2024Pooled it
- Hidden SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Infections in Young Children: What Routine Tests Do Not Tell.International archives of otorhinolaryngology · 2026Article
- Characteristics of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 healthcare-associated infection outbreaks in Germany, 2020-2023: a retrospective observational study.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Observational
- COVID-19-Related Healthcare Resource Utilisation and Costs in Paediatric Patients in Germany: A Population-Based Study.Advances in therapy · 2025Article
- Trends in Respiratory Viral Testing in Pediatric Emergency Departments Following the COVID-19 Pandemic.Annals of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Characteristics and outcomes of neonates hospitalised with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the UK by variant: a prospective national cohort study.Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition · 2024Article
- Risk Factors for Pediatric Critical COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Epidemiology of 7375 children and adolescents hospitalized with COVID-19 in Germany, reported via a prospective, nationwide surveillance study in 2020-2022.Scientific reports · 2024Observational
- Article
- True prevalence of long COVID in children: a narrative review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 12 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeSARS-CoV-2 infections cause COVID-19 and have a wide spectrum of morbidity. Severe disease courses among children are rare. To date, data on the variability of morbidity in relation to variant of concern (VOC) in children has been sparse and inconclusive. We compare the clinical severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection among children and adolescents in Germany during the Wildtype and Alpha combined, Delta and Omicron phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsComparing risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death due to COVID-19 in children and adolescents, we used: (1) a multi-center seroprevalence study (SARS-CoV-2-KIDS study); (2) a nationwide registry of pediatric patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infections; and (3) compulsory national reporting for RT-PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections in Germany.
resultsDuring the Delta predominant phase, risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization among all SARS-CoV-2 seropositive children was 3.35, ICU admission 1.19 and fatality 0.09 per 10,000; hence about halved for hospitalization and ICU admission and unchanged for deaths as compared to the Wildtype- and Alpha-dominant period. The relative risk for COVID-19-related hospitalization and ICU admission compared to the alpha period decreased during Delta [0.60 (95% CI 0.54; 0.67) and 0.51 (95% CI 0.42; 0.61)] and Omicron [0.27 (95% CI 0.24; 0.30) and 0.06 (95% CI 0.05; 0.08)] period except for the < 5-year-olds. The rate of case fatalities decreased slightly during Delta, and substantially during Omicron phase.
conclusionMorbidity caused by SARS-CoV-2 infections among children and adolescents in Germany decreased over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, as different VOCs) emerged.
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