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- Sundberg, Emil, 1990-, et al.
(author)
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Low numbers of COVID-19 in Swedish pediatric oncology patients during the first pandemic year despite an open society
- 2022
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In: Pediatric Blood & Cancer. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1545-5009 .- 1545-5017. ; 69:10
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Sweden adopted a different strategy than many other countries to combat the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic and kept most schools open. Initial reports from China suggested that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was milder in children compared to adults, but there was a lack of data from immunocompromised children. Therefore, we investigated the rate of verified SARS-CoV-2 infections in our Swedish pediatric oncology patients.Procedure This was a multicenter retrospective study. A questionnaire including patient data as well as SARS-CoV-2 data was sent to the six Swedish childhood cancer centers in May 2021.Results During the first pandemic year, 49 patients were identified as SARS-CoV-2 positive, and 22 (45%) children were hospitalized with COVID-19. Two children needed intensive care, but no COVID-19-related deaths were reported. Most patients (n = 36, 73%) were on active chemotherapy treatment and 23 children (49%) attended school or daycare at least part-time. Half of the SARS-CoV-2-positive patients experienced a delay in cancer treatment.Conclusions Despite the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Sweden, without a strict lockdown of the society, the number of nationally reported pediatric oncology patients with polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-verified infection was low, and the majority of children had mild disease. Our data show that treatment interruptions occurred frequently and this should clearly be avoided for the coming years.
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