2 | MATERIALS AND METHODS
We performed a systematic literature review of published research
articles based on a search for the keywords “COVID-19,” “SARS-CoV2,”
“coronavirus,” “2019-nCoV,” “lung ultrasound (LUS),”
“sonography,” “adolescents” “children,” “childhood” and
“newborn” in the online databases PubMed, Embase and Medline. Our
systematic review was drafted according to the Preferred Reporting Items
for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (Figure
1). The inclusion criteria were
English language and publication between 15 May 2019 and 10 October
2021. 181,978 articles were found with “COVID-19” as a keyword. We
found 322 articles when limiting the search to lung ultrasound,
Adolescents, child and newborn keywords. After reading these 192
manuscripts, we excluded articles that did not concern the study topic
or involved an adult population. Among full-text articles assessed for
eligibility, we excluded a letter and literature reviews (10 articles).
We included articles on pediatric patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2
infection, detected by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain
reaction assay, carried out in upper and lower respiratory specimens
taken by nasopharyngeal swab and oropharyngeal swab or respiratory tract
aspirates, who underwent at least one time of diagnostic imaging of LUS.
Studies enrolling confirmed COVID-19 cases without performing LUS were
excluded.