RESULTS
As of April 30th, 2021, the EPICO-AEP database had registered 666 hospitalized patients, including 165/666 (25%) with a final diagnosis of CAP at discharge. Of the 165 patients, 151 with pathological chest X-ray (CXR) on admission were selected for the comparative study. The participants included 91/151 (60%) male children, with a median age of 8 years (IQR 1–13). A total of 76/151 (50%) children had household contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient.
For analytical purposes, the patients were distributed according to the COVID-19 waves. Until the end of April 2021, Spain experienced four waves (Figure 1): 1st wave, February 27th to May 31st, 2020; 2nd wave, June 1st to November 2nd, 2020; 3rd wave, September 15th to December 15th, 2020; 4th wave, December 15th, 2020 to April 30th, 2021. The maximum peak of admissions for CAP was recorded during the first wave: with 83% of cases (126/151).