Data collection
The present paper describes a cross-sectional study performed between
14th September 2020 and 18th March 2021 among a sample of 13,283
paediatric patients (aged 0-19 years) who underwent a swab at OIRM in
four different hospital settings (HS, Emergency department, DH setting
and hospital wards). The data collection ended on 18th March because the
number of daily swabs had been significantly reduced due to the
improvement of the epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 infections.
Hospital wards include COVID-19 ward where positive COVID-19 paediatric
patients were hospitalized. Each record represented a unique patient as
we considered only the first swab performed at the OIRM for each
patient.
Two types of test on nasopharyngeal swabs were analysed: nucleic acid
amplification test (NAAT), also called molecular test, and detection of
virus-specific antigens by rapid antigen detection tests (RADTs), also
called rapid test19.
The data collected included: date of swab execution, type of swab (NAAT
or RADTs), execution setting of the swab (HS, emergency department, DH
setting and hospital wards, result of the swab (positive, negative or
indeterminate), sex and age of the paediatric patients.
Last, since the effective reproductive number (Rt), defined as averages
of the number of people infected by a typical case at any given moment,
play a central role in tracking infectious disease outbreaks, we
recorded, for each swab performed, the mean value of the Rt in the
Piedmont region calculated in the 14 days prior to the date of execution
of the swab20. The Rt values were collected from the
weekly reports of the Italian ministry of
health21–23.