Patients and methods
We surveyed all 43 Spanish institutions treating pediatric cases (1
month - 18 years of age), with solid and hematologic malignancies,
non-malignant hematologic conditions (those receiving immunosuppressive
treatment or bone marrow failure syndrome) and after allogeneic-stem
cell transplantation, or CAR-T cell therapy who were diagnosed with
COVID-19 from the start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on January 31 to
April 24, 2020. This is a collaborative SEHOP initiative. Demographic
and clinical data were collected from medical records.
This study was approved by the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Research
Ethical Committee.
Definitions: Symptoms severity was classified using the
WHO criteria10: Asymptomatic infection, mild-moderate
(presence of fever, symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection,
pneumonia without the need for respiratory support), severe (dyspnea,
tachypnea, blood oxygen saturation ≤93%), critical (respiratory
failure, septic shock, and / or multiple organ dysfunction / failure).
Pneumonia was diagnosed in those cases with lung field infiltrates
identified in chest imaging and was considered bilateral when
> 1 lobe on each lung were affected.
Statistical Analysis : Qualitative variables were
described using absolute frequencies and percentages. Quantitative
variables that can be assumed to be normally distributed were described
using mean and standard deviation, whereas non-normal quantitative
variables were described using the median. To compare quantitative
variables among groups we used the Mann-Whitney test. All the analyses
were performed using R version 3.6.2.