Florencia Moreno

and 20 more

Background and Aims: Worldwide, the incidence of COVID-19 is lower in children than in adults and symptoms are less severe. So far, few studies from Latin America have been published on the behavior of COVID-19 in children with cancer. Purpose: To characterize the epidemiology, clinical course, morbidity, and mortality in children with cancer and COVID-19. Methods: All patients registered in the Argentine National Pediatric Cancer Registry (ROHA) with diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 between December 4, 2020, and May 3, 2022 were included. Variables analyzed were: sex, age at COVID-19 diagnosis, clinical presentation at diagnosis, symptom severity, tumor type, intensive care requirement, specific treatment for COVID-19, vital status, and cause of death. Mortality was analyzed comparing the three main waves. Results: Overall, 888 children with cancer and COVID-19 infection were registered (484 females); 437 (49.2%) had leukemia, followed by central nervous system tumors (CNS-T) 120 (13.5%). Of the children, 57.2% (n=508) were symptomatic; 75% were febrile, and 37% (n=210) had neutropenia; 17.1% (n=152) were diagnosed within one month of cancer diagnosis. A total of 154 children had severe or critical symptoms (17%). In this study, 112 deaths were reported, 105 (94%) due to disease progression, sepsis, comorbidities, or treatment complications. Seven patients (0.8%) died from COVID-19, all diagnosed with leukemia/lymphoma. No association of deaths was found between the three waves analyzed. Conclusions: Based on the ROHA data, we may conclude that in pediatric cancer patients, contrary to what was initially expected, morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 were not increased.