Assessing the clinical characteristics and management of COVID-19 among pediatric patients in Ghana : findings and implications
Sefah, Israel Abebrese and Sarkodie, Seth Adade and Pichierri, Giuseppe and Schellack, Natalie and Godman, Brian (2023) Assessing the clinical characteristics and management of COVID-19 among pediatric patients in Ghana : findings and implications. Antibiotics, 12 (2). 283. ISSN 2079-6382 (https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics12020283)
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Abstract
There is an increasing focus across countries on researching the management of children admitted to hospital with COVID-19. This stems from an increasing prevalence due to new variants, combined with concerns with the overuse of antimicrobials driving up resistance rates. Standard treatment guidelines (STGs) have been produced in Ghana to improve their care. Consequently, there is a need to document the clinical characteristics of children diagnosed and admitted with COVID-19 to our hospital in Ghana, factors influencing compliance to the STG and treatment outcomes. In all, 201 patients were surveyed between March 2020 and December 2021, with males accounting for 51.7% of surveyed children. Those aged between 6 and 10 years were the largest group (44.8%). Nasal congestion and fever were some of the commonest presenting complaints, while pneumonia was the commonest (80.6%) COVID-19 complication. In all, 80.0% of all admissions were discharged with no untreated complications, with a 10.9% mortality rate. A combination of azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine (41.29%) was the most prescribed antimicrobial regimen. Compliance to the STG was variable (68.2% compliance). Increased compliance was associated with a sore throat as a presenting symptom. Mortality increased following transfer to the ICU. However, current recommendations to prescribe antimicrobials without demonstrable bacterial or fungal infections needs changing to reduce future resistance. These are areas to address in the future.
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Item type: Article ID code: 83890 Dates: DateEvent1 February 2023Published27 January 2023AcceptedSubjects: Medicine > Pharmacy and materia medica Department: Faculty of Science > Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 27 Jan 2023 09:49 Last modified: 11 Nov 2024 13:46 Related URLs: URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/83890