Functional status of children and adolescents with COVID-19 in a reference hospital in southern Brazil

Abstract

Introduction COVID-19 could leave important consequences, including functional decline. Objective Eval-uate functional status in pediatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and correlate with clinical variables. Methods Prospective and retrospective longitudinal study with patients with COVID-19. Hospitalization data were collected from medical record review and post discharge data were collected by telephone contact. Functional status was evaluated by Functional Status Scale (FSS-Brazil) in three moments (hospital admission, hospi-tal discharge and after hospital discharge). Spearman test was used to correlate continuous variables and the linear model with generalized estimation equations was used to verify differences in the proportion of functional impairment occurrence (FSS-Brazil ≥ 8) at different mo-ments of the study and previous disease presence. Results It was included 232 patients, 56% male, median age of five years old. Seventy (30.2%) patients had post discharge data. The mean global score of FSS-Brazil was 7.3 at hospital admission, 6.8 at discharge hospital and 6.8 after discharge hospital. Functional status was adequate in the three different moments evaluated in 75% of the sample. The ventilatory support needed was not correlated with functional status and the length of hos-pital stay and oxygen therapy showed weak correlations with functional status. Having no previous disease reduced the risk of functional impairment by 94%. Conclusion The majority of the patients maintained adequate functional status. Absence of previous disease was a protective factor for long term functional impairment.