Behavioral and Emotional Disorders in Children during the COVID-19 Epidemic

Jiao WY, Wang LN, Liu J, Fang SF, Jiao FY, Pettoello-Mantovani M, Somekh E. Behavioral and Emotional Disorders in Children during the COVID-19 Epidemic. J Pediatr. 2020 Jun;221:264-266.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.03.013. Epub 2020 Apr 3. PMID: 32248989; PMCID: PMC7127630.

The COVID-19 outbreak first erupted in the city of Wuhan in the Hubei Province of China, where several local health facilities reported clusters of patients with pneumonia of unknown cause; they were epidemiologically linked to a seafood and wet animal wholesale market.3
COVID-19 infection rapidly spread throughout China, involving the provinces of Chongqing, Hunan, Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, and Shaanxi.4
Over the next 3 months, COVID-19 spread to other regions of the world, reaching >100 000 cases globally in the first week of March 2020, of which approximately 80% were reported in China, 6% in South Korea, 3% in Iran, and 0.2% in the US. In Europe, the first case of COVID-19 was registered in a patient hospitalized in Munich, Germany in early January 2020, following contact with a traveler from China. Later, several other cases were reported in variable numbers in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and other European countries, together representing roughly 5% of the cases of COVID-19 recorded worldwide. Genetic studies on viral strains isolated from patients affected by Coronavirus infection throughout the world confirmed that they are all phylogenetically related to the original Chinese mutant strain.

In contrast to seasonal influenza, COVID-19 seems to cause a milder clinical infection in children than in adults or older people. Early studies have suggested that children are just as likely as older age groups to become infected with the coronavirus but are far less likely to develop severe symptoms. The risk of severe disease and death is highest for seniors and those with severe health conditions, such as heart disease, chronic lung disease, cancer, and diabetes.

COVID-19 has been perceived worldwide as a major threat to health and a danger to the global economy, affecting people’s lives by influencing their everyday behavior and causing feelings of panic anxiety, depression, and often triggering intense dread.

In China, COVID-19 has affected children aged 3 months to 17 years, most of whom had close contact with infected persons or were part of a family cluster of cases.No official data are available on the number of symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals positive for COVID-19 in the <18 age group. Infected children might appear asymptomatic or present with fever, dry cough, and fatigue, and few have upper respiratory symptoms including nasal congestion and running nose. Some patients present with gastrointestinal symptoms, including abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Most infected children have mild clinical manifestations without fever or symptoms of pneumonia, and the majority recover within 1-2 weeks after disease onset. Few progress to lower respiratory infections.

Although children seem to be less vulnerable than adults to COVID-19, initial reports from Chinese areas hit by the outbreak indicate that children and adolescents have been impacted psychologically, manifesting behavioral problems, as discussed below.

Disponível Em: <https://www.jpeds.com/>