Nearly 6 percent of children who presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with COVID-19 reported long-term COVID-19 symptoms 90 days later, according to a study conducted in eight countries and published in JAMA Network Open. Initial hospitalization of 48 hours or more, four or more symptoms at initial ED visit, and age 14 years or older were associated with long-lasting COVID.
“We found that in some children, illness with COVID-19 is associated with reporting persistent symptoms after 3 months,” said lead researcher Stephen Freedman, MDCM, MSc, of the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services. “Our findings suggest that appropriate guidance and follow-up is needed, especially for children at high risk for COVID-19.”
The study included 1,884 children with COVID-19 who were followed up for 90 days. Long-term COVID was found in nearly 10 percent of hospitalized children and 5 percent of children discharged from the ED.
“The reported rates of long-term COVID in adults are substantially higher than what we found in children,” said co-principal investigator Nathan Kuppermann, MD, MPH, of the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento. “Our findings can inform public health policy decisions about COVID-19 mitigation strategies for children and approaches to screening for COVID-19 among those with severe infections.”
The most commonly reported persistent symptoms in children were fatigue or weakness, cough, shortness of breath, or shortness of breath.
“Our finding that children who had multiple symptoms of COVID-19 initially had a higher risk of having long-term COVID is consistent with studies in adults,” said co-principal investigator Todd Florin, MD, MSCE , from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern University. “Unfortunately, there are no known therapies for long-term COVID-19 in children, and more research is needed in this area. However, if symptoms are significant, symptom-directed treatment is most important. Attention is warranted multidisciplinary if the symptoms affect the quality of life”.
Source:
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Journal reference:
10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.23253