Is leukopenia and lymphopenia a characteristic feature of COVID-19 in children?

Objectives: To analyze whether leucopenia and lymphopenia a characteristic feature of children with COVID-19 and to find out its association with the disease severity. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at The Children's Hospital Lahore from March 2020 to October 2020. All confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection and post-COVID MIS-C/Kawasaki Disease diagnosed on the basis of RT-PCR and Antibody test respectively were included. Complete blood and differential counts were performed on the day of admission. Results: Out of a total of 83 patients 60 (72%) were diagnosed as COVID-19 and 23 (28%) as post-COVID MIS-C/KD. The mean age of children was 7.0 +/- 4.3 years (95%CI: 6.07 - 8.75) with a male preponderance 51 (61%). Twenty (24%) children had an underlying comorbidity and 7 (8%) were surgical cases. Our case fatality rate was 5 (6%) and all children who died had an underlying comorbid condition. In both, COVID and MIS-C/KD the mean leukocyte count was (14.0 +/- 12.5 vs 13.6 +/- 6.9 x10(9)/L), respectively (p=0.888). The mean lymphocyte count in children with COVID was (39.1 +/- 21.4%). Patients with MIS-C/KD showed significantly higher levels of neutrophil count (76.5 +/- 15.0%) as compared to children with COVID (52.0 +/- 22.1%), absolute lymphocyte count was (5.02 +/- 4.81 vs 2.13 +/- 0.95 x10(9)/L) in COVID and MIS-C respectively (p=