Prevalence of COVID-19 in Egyptian Children With Hemoglobinopathies and Inherited Anemias

Since the World Health Organization (WHO) announced coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) to be a pandemic, children's COVID-19 cases were generally less severe than adults. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 cases among children with hemoglobinopathies and other inherited anemias living in El-Minya Governorate, Egypt, who are at high risk of exposure to infection. This cross-sectional study evaluated data from 258 children with hemoglobinopathies and inherited anemias. A questionnaire was used to collect data about COVID-19 symptoms coupled with appropriate investigations (complete blood count, d-dimer, anti-COVID antibodies, chest computed tomography scans, and polymerase chain reaction). We found 38 of 258 (14.7%) children had mild to moderate COVID-19, while there were no cases with severe form of COVID-19. COVID-19 cases were significantly older (8.63 +/- 3.37 vs. 6.71 +/- 3.56 y, P=0.01), noncompliant to iron chelators (63.2% vs. 11.8%, P=0.01), had higher serum ferritin (2639.47 +/- 835.06 vs. 1038.95 +/- 629.87 ng/mL, P<0.0001) and serum iron levels (803.68 +/- 261.36 vs. 374.18 +/- 156.15 mu g/dL, P<0.0001) and more frequently had undergone splenectomy (78.9% vs. 25.5%; P<0.0001) than non-COVID-19 cases. In conclusion, only 14.7% of children with hemoglobinopathies and inherited anemias were recorded to have contracted mild to moderate COVID-19, with no reported severe cases.