Baseline characteristics of patients with PCR-positive SARS-CoV-2 infection (N=403) according to country of origin
| Canada n=266 (%) | Costa Rica n=107 (%) | Iran n=30 (%) | Total N=403 (%) | |
| Demographics | ||||
| Median age in years (IQR)* | 5.82 (0.84–14.27) | 2.19 (0.47–5.94) | 2.04 (0.67–5.96) | 3.78 (0.53–10.77) |
| Age<30 days | 30 (11.3%) | 7 (6.5%) | 0 | 37 (9.2%) |
| Age category* | ||||
| <1 year | 67 (25.3%) | 36 (34.0%) | 10 (33.3%) | 113 (28.2%) |
| 1–4 years | 58 (21.9%) | 40 (37.7%) | 8 (26.7%) | 106 (26.4%) |
| 5–11 years | 53 (20.0%) | 24 (22.6%) | 12 (40.0%) | 89 (22.2%) |
| ≥12 years | 87 (32.8%) | 6 (5.7%) | 0 | 93 (23.2%) |
| Male sex | 147 (55.3%) | 64 (59.8%) | 16 (53.3%) | 227 (56.3%) |
| Admission period | ||||
| Prior to 1 July 2020 | 12 (4.5%) | 0 | 7 (23.3%) | 19 (4.7%) |
| Between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 32020 | 77 (28.9%) | 57 (53.3%) | 17 (56.7%) | 151 (37.5%) |
| Between 1 January 2021 and 31 May 2021 | 177 (66.5%) | 50 (46.7%) | 6 (20.0%) | 233 (57.8%) |
| Number of comorbidities | ||||
| None | 140 (52.6%) | 61 (57.0%) | 15 (50.0%) | 216 (53.6%) |
| At least 1 comorbidity | 126 (47.4%) | 46 (43.0%) | 15 (50.0%) | 187 (46.4%) |
| 1 comorbidity | 68 (25.6%) | 31 (29.0%) | 13 (43.3%) | 112 (27.8%) |
| Multiple (≥2) comorbidities | 58 (21.8%) | 15 (14.0%) | 2 (6.7%) | 75 (18.6%) |
| Individual comorbidities† | ||||
| Obesity | 44 (16.5%) | 5 (4.7%) | 1 (3.3%) | 50 (12.4%) |
| Pulmonary disorders | 32 (12.0%) | 20 (18.7%) | 2 (6.7%) | 54 (13.4%) |
| Non-asthma pulmonary disorders‡ | 16 (6.0%) | 4 (3.7%) | 2 (6.7%) | 22 (5.4%) |
| Asthma | 16 (6.0%) | 16 (14.9%) | 0 | 32 (7.9%) |
| Prematurity (<37 weeks’ gestational age) | 26 (9.8%) | 4 (3.7%) | 0 | 30 (7.4%) |
| Immunosuppression | 16 (6.0%) | 11 (10.3%) | 4 (13.3%) | 31 (7.7%) |
| Malignancy§ | 4 (1.5%) | 8 (7.5%) | 4 (13.3%) | 16 (4.0%) |
| Anaemia and/or haemoglobinopathy¶ | 13 (4.9%) | 0 | 0 | 13 (3.2%) |
| Sick cell anaemia | 6 (2.2%) | 0 | 0 | 6 (1.5%) |
| Neurological disorders** | 40 (15.0%) | 13 (12.1%) | 3 (10.0%) | 56 (13.9%) |
| Cardiac disorders | 11 (4.1%) | 6 (5.6%) | 2 (6.7%) | 19 (4.7%) |
| Metabolic disorders | 9 (3.4%) | 2 (1.9%) | 1 (3.3%) | 12 (3.0%) |
| Diabetes mellitus | 4 (1.5%) | 0 | 1 (3.3%) | 5 (1.2%) |
| Renal disorders | 8 (3.0%) | 3 (2.8%) | 3 (10.0%) | 14 (3.5%) |
| Hypertension | 6 (2.2%) | 3 (2.8%) | 0 | 9 (2.2%) |
| Chromosomal disorders†† | 6 (2.2%) | 2 (1.9%) | 0 | 8 (2.0%) |
| Others‡‡ | 18 (6.8%) | 5 (4.7%) | 2 (6.7%) | 25 (6.2%) |
*One child from Canada and one child from Costa Rica were missing date of birth.
†Children are listed more than once if they had more than one comorbidity.
‡Additional information is available for 14 out of 22 patients: obstructive sleep apnoea (n=5); bronchopulmonary dysplasia (n=3); pulmonary hypertension (n=2); cystic fibrosis (n=1); chronic aspiration pneumonia (n=1); subglottic stenosis (n=1); and Pierre-Robin anomaly (n=1).
§Malignancy consists of the following: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (n=11); neuroblastoma (n=2); lymphoma (n=1); rhabdomyosarcoma (n=1); and osteosarcoma (n=1).
¶Anaemia and/or haemoglobinopathy consists of the following: sickle cell disease (n=6); glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (n=2); anaemia of chronic disease (n=2); ovalocytosis (n=1); pancytopenia of unknown aetiology (n=1); and iron deficiency anaemia (n=1).
**Additional information is available for 47 out of 56 patients: syndromic condition with global developmental delay (GDD) (n=19); autism and/or GDD of unexplained aetiology (n=10); cerebral palsy (n=7); muscular dystrophy (n=3); hydrocephalus (n=2); congenital microcephaly (n=2); brain tumour (n=1); focal cortical dysplasia (n=1); encephalopathy (n=1); and epilepsy (n=1).
††Additional information is available for 7 out of 8 patients: Trisomy 21 (n=3); unbalanced translocation (n=2); Prader-Willi syndrome (n=1); and Miller-Dieker syndrome (n=1).
‡‡Others consists of the following: gastrostomy (n=12); liver transplantation (n=2); coeliac disease (n=1); Crohn disease (n=1) failure to thrive (n=1); inflammatory bowel disease (n=1); inflammatory bowel disease and Hirschsprung disease (n=1); unclear liver disease (n=1); oesophageal atresia (n=1); scoliosis (n=2); liver cirrhosis and cholestasis (n=1); and Glanzmann thrombasthenia (n=1).