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).