FIGURE 1
As shown by the literature retrieval flowchart in Figure 1, 1703
pediatric COVID-19 articles were searched from two databases (PubMed and
Scopus) from December 2019 to July 2020 with a predefined search
strategy. Out of those, 734 duplicate studies were excluded and 784
studies did not meet the eligibility criteria for meta-analysis, owing
to inappropriate study type/ focus or lack of relevant clinical
pediatric data when screened with title and abstract. Of the remaining
185 full text articles that met the eligibility criteria, 37 studies
comprising of 993 patients sieved through the rigorous criteria of
inclusion for meta-analysis. Remaining studies were excluded due to
inadequate sample size, insufficient availability of data and other
reasons described in Figure 1. The journal name, PMID and
characteristics of the 37 studies selected for meta-analysis, and funnel
plots and forest plots are shown in the supplementary material.