Evaluation and follow-up of pediatric COVID-19 in terms of cardiac involvement: A scientific statement from the Association of Turkish Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

This guide has been prepared specifically for the benefit of pediatric cardiologists and pediatricians to guide the management against the new Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), which emerged in Wuhan City, China in December 2019, before spreading all over the world and becoming a pandemic.” Studies from several countries have confirmed that COVID-19 infection causes mild symptoms, and that severe illness and death resulting from COVID-19 is extremely rare among children (1-6). Thus, physicians dealing with pediatric patients have relatively fewer and less severe patients. Although children with COVID-19 are usually asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, they may be highly contagious even in these cases (3, 6). For this reason, the pandemic concerns not only the physician on duty for management of the infected child, but also physicians who care for pediatric patients in all specialties. It is currently not possible to foresee how long the pandemic will continue, how many people will be affected, and whether there will be recurrences, even in the most ideally managed scenario. Each day, the number of new cases is increasing both in our country and around the world.