Covid-19 suspicious cases in pediatrics: an analysis in a tertiary hospital of Brazil

Objective: Define the COVID-19 suspicious cases profile in children and teenagers in a tertiary hospital in the state of Sergipe, due to the similarity of signals and symptoms with other viral respiratory infections prevalent in pediatrics. Methods: sectional study realized through data extraction of medical records of the Santa Isabel Hospital and Maternity, in Sergipe, between March 24 and September 28 of 2020. To this data analysis, continuous and categoric variants was created. Results: 302 patients were attended, during that analyzed period time and classified as COVID-19 suspicious cases, of that, 54 children (17.9%) presented one or more subjacent comorbidities, which the most prevalent was related to respiratory system, like asthma. Most of suspicious COVID-19 cases were excluded, and only 95 (31,5%) was diagnosed with the disease. Signs and symptoms did not show significative difference among patients with and without SARS- CoV-2, as we can see in dyspnea (37,9% vs 38,1%. P=1,000). Final considerations: the similarity in clinical presentation between the SARS-Cov-2 infection and acute respiratory infections in pediatrics makes the differential diagnosis even harder, needing the use of laboratory tests. Beyond that, there is an increase in the COVID-19 suspicious cases, because of this similarity.