Aim:
Describe clinical features and outcomes of patients < 18 years who tested positive with COVID-19 and presented to hospitals across Australia in the PREDICT network.
Design:
A multicentre retrospective study involving data extraction from medical records on children who test positive for COVID-19 and are seen in emergency or admitted to hospital.
Recruitment:
Sites – 23 hospitals across 8 Australian states and territories
Current Status:
• Our first audit of cases was from 1/2/20 to 30/9/2020 and involved our original 14 hospitals across 5 states.
• This data has since been published in MJA and we are now completing our second audit of cases with the inclusion of 9 new sites expanding our coverage, which will include cases up to 31/12/2021.
Much has happened in this study since it began. New strains keep evolving and COVID case numbers have blown out in many locations. To keep the workload manageable, our focus is on the children who go to ED or are admitted.
This is the only study to date that looks at COVID in children on a national multicentre level and describes their care requirements and short-term outcomes in the first two years of the pandemic. We aim to complete the next audit and publish again soon, stay tuned!
Thanks to all our site research teams who have come along for the ride!
Cate Wilson, Laila Ibrahim and Franz Babl