Epidemiology of COVID-19 among Children and Adolescents in Sudan 2020-2021

Amna Khairy; Narmin Elhussein; Omer Elbadri; Sanad Mohamed; Elfatih M Malik

doi:10.3390/epidemiologia4030025

Epidemiology of COVID-19 among Children and Adolescents in Sudan 2020-2021

Epidemiologia (Basel). 2023 Jun 23;4(3):247-254. doi: 10.3390/epidemiologia4030025.

Authors

Amna Khairy^{1

2}, Narmin Elhussein³, Omer Elbadri¹, Sanad Mohamed¹, Elfatih M Malik^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Sudan FETP Graduates, Federal Ministry of Health, Khartoum 11111, Sudan.
² FETP Technical Coordinator, EMPHNET, Khartoum 11111, Sudan.
³ Sudan FETP Graduates, Blue Nile National Institute for Communicable Disease, Gezira 21111, Sudan.
⁴ Associate Professor of Community Medicine, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Khartoum and GHD/EMPHNET Consultant for EBS in Sudan, Khartoum 11111, Sudan.

Abstract

Children and adolescents account for a small proportion of confirmed COVID-19 cases, with mild and self-limiting clinical manifestations. The distribution and determinants of COVID-19 among this group in Sudan are unclear. This study used national COVID-19 surveillance data to study the epidemiology of COVID-19 among children and adolescents in Sudan during 2020-2021. A cross-sectional study was performed to estimate the reported incidence of children and adolescents with COVID-19; the clinical features; and the mortality among those who tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 3150 suspected cases of COVID-19 infection fulfilled the study criteria. The majority of cases were above 10 years of age, 52% (1635) were males, and 56% (1765) were asymptomatic. The reported incidence rates of COVID-19 among children and adolescents in Sudan was 1.3 per 10,000 in 2021. Fever, cough, and headache were the most frequent symptoms reported among the suspected cases. The case fatality rate was 0.2%. Binary logistic regression revealed that loss of smell was the most significantly associated symptom with a positive test. We recommend further study to identify risk factors. Additionally, we recommend including these age groups in the vaccination strategy in Sudan.

Keywords: COVID-19; Sudan; adolescents; children; epidemiology; odds ratios; reported incidence; surveillance.

Grants and funding

This study was part of the deliverable for the Sudan field Epidemiology training (SFETP) intermediate level. It was conducted as graduation projects., East Mediterranean public Health Network-Global Health Development (EMPHNNET-GHD) supported the publication fee.