3.2 Clinical characteristics of pediatric inpatients with severe pneumonia prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic
Among the participants, 5.2% (43/825) in 2019 and 3.3% (7/213) in 2020 were diagnosed with severe pneumonia respectively, showing no difference between the two years (P > 0.05). Table 2 showed the clinical characteristics of the children with severe pneumonia, and significant differences were found in age and vitamin B6 status between the two years (P ≤ 0.05). Severe pneumonia inpatients in 2020 with median age of 6 months were much younger than those in 2019 with median age of 35 months. The level of vitamin B6 in 2020 was lower than that in 2019. No differences were found in other characteristics between the two years (P > 0.05).