MATERIAL AND METHOD
This study was planned with a retrospective design. The sample included
62 pediatric patients who presented to the Pandemic Emergency Outpatient
Clinic of Kırşehir Research and Training Hospital with symptoms such as
fever, cough and respiratory distress between March 2020 and April 2021.
The patients who were included were divided into two groups. While 32
pediatric patients who had COVID-19 PCR positivity and simultaneous
thoracic CT images constituted Group 1, 30 children who had negative
COVID-19 PCR results and available simultaneous thoracic CT images
constituted Group 2. Patients who had pneumonia with causes other than
COVID-19 and those who had a history of primary PH or pulmonary
thromboembolism (PTE) were excluded. Basic demographic and clinical
information was obtained from the hospital database. The test results of
simultaneously collected blood samples (hemogram and biochemistry) were
analyzed. The research protocol was approved by the Clinical Studies
Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine at Kırşehir Ahi Evran
University on 07/09/2021 with the decision numbered 2021-14/151. The
study was conducted in compliance with the principles of the Declaration
of Helsinki.