Key Points

• Between March 2, 2020, and March 27, 2022, 1,091 cases of pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome (PIMS or MIS-C), including 1,005 linked to COVID-19, were reported to Santé publique France by pediatricians. Of these 1,005 cases, 390 (39%) involved girls. The median age of these cases was 8 years (25% of cases were ≤4 years old and 75% ≤11 years old).

• More than eight out of 10 cases were confirmed by positive RT-PCR and/or serology for SARS-CoV-2 (n=928, 85%). A link to the virus was probable in 35 patients, or 3% of cases (exposure to a positive individual or suggestive CT scan), and considered possible in 42 patients (4%). For the remaining 86 patients (8%), this link could not be established.

• Among the 1,005 patients for whom the link to COVID-19 was possible, probable, or confirmed, PIMS was associated with myocarditis in 713 cases (71%). Among the 86 patients with no established link to COVID-19, myocarditis was found in only 11 of them (11%).

• Among these 1,005 patients, 392 children (39%) required admission to the intensive care unit and 343 (34%) to the continuous care unit. The remaining children were hospitalized in the pediatric ward. One 9-year-old child died from systemic inflammation with myocarditis.

• The regions reporting the highest number of cases were Île-de-France (365 cases, 33%), Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (149 cases, 14%), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (137 cases, 13%), Occitanie (71 cases, 7%), Grand Est (69 cases, 6%), Nouvelle-Aquitaine (53 cases, 5%), and Hauts-de-France (46 cases, 4%). The other regions reported fewer than 40 cases each.