CHARACTERISTICS OF PEDIATRIC PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID-19 DURING THE THIRD WAVE (OMICRON VARIANT) AT A REFERRAL HOSPITAL IN PERU

This study aimed to describe the characteristics of pediatric patients (28 days to 14 years of age) hospitalized with COVID-19 during the third wave of the pandemic (omicron variant) at the Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins (HNERM) (Lima, Peru). In this retrospective cohort, we reviewed the medical records of 122 pediatric patients who attended HNERM between January and early April 2022 (55% male, median age: 5 years); 77.9% attended HNERM during the first month, and half of them had some comorbidity. Participants were hospitalized mainly for respiratory distress, decompensated comorbidity, and dehydration. Of the participants, 6.6% were admitted to intensive care, 4.9% to invasive mechanical ventilation, 5.7% required some vasoactive agent and 1.6% died. The most commonly used drugs were antibiotics (43.4%) and corticosteroids (27.1%). In conclusion, hospitalizations rapidly increased during the third wave, when compared to previous waves, most of them with favorable progression and with a wide empirical use of antibiotics.