Prevalence of Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection in Pediatric Surgical Patients

Children infected with COVID-19 are mostly asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. Children may spread COVID-19 to the elderly, vulnerable patients and medical staff. There is a dearth of data on the epidemiology of COVID-19 in the pediatric surgical population. Rapid antigen detection tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19 are reliable, simple, fast, and inexpensive.

This is a prospective observational clinical study. The study population will include all consenting pediatric surgical patients, aged 2-17 years. Informed consent will be obtained from each patient and the legal guardian who agree to participate in the study. Nasopharyngeal swab specimens will be collected from anesthetized pediatric patients. COVID-19 rapid antigen testing will be performed according to the equipment manufacturer's instructions.

Data collection will include COVID-19 test result, nasal swab complication, patient demographics, surgical history, medical history, regular medications, COVID-19 symptoms, and COVID-19 exposure information. COVID-19 symptoms that will be recorded are cough, wheeze, nasal congestion, breathing difficulty, new loss of taste or smell, fever, chills, rigors, body aches, sore throat, nausea, and fatigue. COVID-19 exposure will be considered as being within 6 feet of a person with diagnosed COVID-19 infection in the previous 14 days.