A case series of children with COVID-19 suggests the clinical course is typically less severe and the hospital outcomes better in critically ill children than in adults.

The US researchers describe the characteristics and clinical course of 48 children with coronavirus admitted to pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) between 14 March and 3 April with follow-up to 10 April.

At the end of follow-up, 15 children (31%) remained hospitalised, three remained on ventilatory support, one was receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and two children had died, for a mortality rate of 4%.

“We can be cautiously encouraged by the hospital outcomes for patients in this series, with an overall ICU mortality at the end of our follow-up period of less than 5%, compared with published mortalities of 50% to 62% in adults admitted to the ICU,” wrote the team from Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.