How Long Do Long COVID Symptoms Persist in Children?

Long COVID symptoms that rarely persisted beyond 12 weeks in children and adolescents need to be investigated for vaccine policy decisions in Australia, according to a review led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI).

The review is published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal found existing studies on long COVID in children and adolescents have major limitations and did not explain the differences in symptoms.

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‘Long COVID might be less of a concern in children as the symptoms did not persist longer than 12 weeks.’

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A new MCRI review analyzed 14 international studies involving 19,426 children and adolescents that reported persistent symptoms following COVID-19.

The most common symptoms reported four to 12 weeks after acute infection were headache, fatigue, sleep disturbance, concentration difficulties, and abdominal pain.

This new research states that after 10 months in circulation the Delta strain had not caused more serious disease in children than previous variants and most cases remained asymptomatic or mild.

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Children and adolescents with pre-existing health conditions including obesity, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and immune disorders have a 25-fold greater risk of severe COVID-19.

The review also stated that although multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) had caused child deaths overseas mainly during the early pandemic, and more appropriate treatments had improved outcomes.

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Another recent systematic review also reported severe COVID-19 occurred in 5.1 per cent of children and adolescents with pre-existing conditions and in 0.2 per cent without.

“Current studies lack a clear case definition and age-related data, have variable follow-up times, and rely on self- or parent-reported symptoms without lab confirmation”, said MCRI Professor Nigel Curtis.

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To date in Australia, there have been no deaths from COVID-19 in children aged less than 10 years and one death in an adolescent. As of September 5, 22 percent of all COVID-19 cases were among those aged less than 19 years old.

Another significant problem is that many studies have low response rates meaning they might overestimate the risk of long COVID.

Long COVID-19 symptoms were difficult to distinguish from those attributable to the indirect effects of the pandemic, such as school closures, not seeing friends, or being unable to do sports and hobbies.

Parents should be reassured that illness caused by the Delta variant remained asymptomatic or mild in the vast majority of children and adolescents and hospitalizations were still uncommon.

An accurate determination of the risk of long COVID in this age group is important for the debate about the risks and benefits of vaccination.

This highlights the importance of future studies involving more rigorous control groups that include children with other infections and those admitted to hospital or intensive care for other reasons.

Source-Medindia