Factors Influencing US Hospital and Medical School Participation in Pediatric COVID-19 Research

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Literature suggests that funding for pediatric clinical trials is inequitably awarded. Furthermore, although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected all hospitals, institutions with already limited resources were more severely impacted. We hypothesized that there would be difference in schools and hospitals that were able to participate in the initial round of pediatric COVID-19 clinical research. METHODS We searched online databases for preregistered studies using the keywords “COVID-19,” “COVID,” “SARS-CoV-2,” “2019-nCov,” “2019 novel coronavirus,” and “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.” Search results were limited to studies enrolling participants from birth to 17 years, studies started in 2020, and studies originating in the United states. We calculated the proportion of institutions with active COVID-19 pediatric clinical studies in 2020 and compared institutional characteristics between institutions with and without at least one qualifying COVID-19 study, using rank-sum tests, χ2 tests, or Fisher’s exact tests, as appropriate. RESULTS We identified 150 allopathic medical schools, 34 osteopathic medical schools, and 178 children’s hospitals meeting inclusion criteria. Among included institutions, 25% of medical schools and 20% children’s hospitals participated in 1 of the registered pediatric COVID-19 studies the year before the study period. Institutions that participated in pediatric COVID-19 studies had more publications, more National Institutes of Health funding, and more studies registered on Clinicaltrials.gov in 2019. CONCLUSIONS Despite the pandemic affecting everyone, participation in early clinical research on the impact of COVID-19 in pediatric populations was concentrated in a few well-resourced institutions that were highly experienced in research.