ReachMD

As IDWeek 2022 kicks off, let’s take a look at some of the posters focused on COVID-19 presented at this year’s meeting.

SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Hesitancy Associated with Hospitalized Children

Vaccine hesitancy (VH) has been caused nationwide due to the minimal amount of information that is known about caregivers providing the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to hospitalized children. A recent survey attempted to uncover more data by examining the association of VH among hospitalized children and COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors by caregivers.

The survey was comprised of hospitalized children ages 6 months to 18 years old from a large pediatric medical institution. Parents were assessed four to five times a week using the Parents Attitudes about Children Vaccines (PACV) survey from the dates of December 8, 2020, to April 5, 2021.

The baseline characteristics of the cohort included:

• 79% of caregivers were 30 years of age or older
• 36% of caregivers were white
• 19% of caregivers were black
• 46% of caregivers were Hispanic/Latino
• 53% of caregiver children had public insurance
• 91% of caregivers self-reported that their children were up to date with routine vaccines
• 17% of caregivers were vaccine-hesitant overall
• 50% of caregivers were willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine themselves

According to the survey, 65 percent of caregivers knew someone who was hospitalized due to COVID-19, while 67 percent were scared that their child might get COVID-19. Meanwhile, 49 percent were scared of their child getting the vaccine, 28 percent did not want to vaccinate their child at all, and 27 percent were neutral about having their child receive or not receive the vaccine.

The study noted that black caregivers were less likely to have their child vaccinated and Hispanic/Latino caregivers were more likely to have their children get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Overall, the survey found that the majority of caregivers believe that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine will help regulate the pandemic, however, less than half plan to vaccinate their child. With more education and discussion surrounding the vaccine, caregivers that are not at ease about the vaccine may become more open to it over time.

Effects of EAT Associated with COVID-19

Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) may cause cardiac dysfunction due to its high concentrations of IL-6 and macrophages, which diminish cardiac inotropic function. A recent study observed the effects between EAT Thickness and Density from CT Scans with adult patients with COVID-19.

The study was comprised of 148 adult patients who were infected with COVID-19 at Mount Sinai Medical Center from March 2020 to January 2021. To classify them based on their cardiovascular risk, patients were put into two groups based on EAT Thickness. The study continued with each patient until death or discharge occurred.

The baseline characteristics of the study included:

• The general population, a parametric test of normality for comparisons between groups
• Kaplan survival analysis
• Q-Q Plot
• Multiple regression analysis
• Log-rank test

Based on the findings from the study, the group with no EAT inflammation had approximately a 95 percent chance of survival. The group with EAT inflammation had approximately a 65 percent chance of survival and an average hospital stay of 18 days.

Overall, the study found that there was a significant difference in the survival rates between the two groups. The group with higher EAT Thickness was at a higher risk of mortality, while the group with lower EAT Thickness was at a lower risk of mortality.