Preliminary evidence on long COVID in children

Abstract

A recent large cohort of 1733 patients from Wuhan found persistent symptoms in 76% of patients 6 months after initial diagnosis. 2 To date, data on Long COVID in children are scarce, with the exception of an earlier description of five children with Long COVID in Sweden. 3 We assessed persistent symptoms in paediatric patients previously diagnosed with COVID-19. | ME THODSThis cross-sectional study included all children ≤18 year old diagnosed with microbiologically confirmed (PCR analysis on nasopharyngeal swab) COVID-19 (through a nasopharyngeal swab from March 2020 to October 2020) in Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS (Rome, Italy). Only children with a SARS-CoV-2 infection diagnosed 30 days before the assessment were included.Patients >18 years old or with severe neurocognitive disability were excluded, since this would have not allowed a proper assessment of signs and symptoms included in the survey. Caregivers were interviewed about their child's health using a questionnaire (Appendix S1) developed by the Long COVID ISARIC study group, 4 for evaluation of persisting symptoms. Participants were interviewed by two paediatricians, either by phone or in the outpatient department, from 1 September 2020 to 1 January 2021. For those assessed in the outpatient settings, the same survey was used and symptoms reported were collected even if not present at the moment of the visit (eg tachycardia). Also, investigations were not performed at the moment of the assessment, in order to rule-out other causes, although the survey has a section to ask whether other possible causes have been detected in the meantime. Participants were categorised into groups according to symptoms status during the acute phase (symptomatic/ asymptomatic), need for hospitalisation and time from COVID-19 diagnosis to follow-up evaluation (<60, 60-120, >120 days). Numerical variables were compared using t test or ANOVA and categorical variables with chi-square or Fisher's exact test where appropriate.All analyses were performed using R version 4.0.3 (R Foundation).

Mental health of Adolescents in the Pandemic: Long-COVID19 or Long-Pandemic Syndrome?

“…The data presented in our study clearly shows a high rate of neurocognitive, pain and mood symptoms in the surveyed group of adolescents, with every item being present in at least one third of the students within the last seven days before responding to the survey. This is consistent with previous studies and surveys on the prevalence of Long-COVID19 symptoms 10 or psychosomatic symptoms during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic 15 in this age group. Furthermore the prevalence is considerably higher compared to pre-pandemic data.…”

Plans to vaccinate children for COVID-19: a survey of US parents

“…[2][3][4][5][6] In addition, COVID-19 infection can lead to multi inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS C) and there is some evidence that children may experience long COVID with ongoing symptoms, including fatigue and pain. [7][8][9] Preventing COVID-19 in children is of critical importance and, to date, mask wearing and social distancing, including closing or reducing time at school, have been the primary approaches for infection control. 10,11 While no COVID-19 vaccines are yet approved for children <16 years of age, clinical trials in pediatric populations are underway.…”

Long-term symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection in school children: population-based cohort with 6-months follow-up

“…While nobody doubts the existence of even severe forms of long COVID in children 4 , the estimates on prevalence range from 95% of children reporting symptoms within 8 months of follow-up 3 , to 1.8% of schoolchildren at 2 months in a large surveillance 2 is the author/funder, who has granted medRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. (which was not certified by peer review)…”

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted May 18, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.16.21257255 doi: medRxiv preprint 3 limited to selective -mostly clinical -populations without control groups [2][3][4][5] , which do not allow estimating the overall prevalence and burden in a general pediatric population. In this study, we compared long COVID related symptoms in children and adolescents (hereafter referred to as children) with 6-months follow-up according to their SARS-CoV-2 serology.…”