COVID-19 appears to leave a prolonged mark on those who have been diagnosed. Long COVID is associated with a need for long-term medical care, which increases the country’s healthcare burden. Children are a part of the long-COVID population, research finds.*

In fact, the prevalence of long COVID in children who had been infected with the coronavirus is about 5%, according to the preprint [not yet peer-reviewed] research paper. This number falls between the 4% and 10-13% ranges found in earlier studies.

What Researchers Did in the New Study

The study used data from a household study conducted in England and Wales, called VirusWatch, which included about 4,700 children who were between 0-17 years old. Other important details include:

• More than half of the participants were ages 2-11. 
• They participated in weekly surveys on symptoms and swab tests between February 2020 and January 2021.
• Symptoms were included after accounting for any pre-existing conditions. 

What Researchers Found

• 175 (4%) children had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 either in the past or over the study period.
• Almost 2% (80) of the 4,700 child participants experienced persistent symptoms overall, as well as 4.6% (8) of the 175 children with known prior SARS-CoV-2 infection.
• Symptoms lasted anywhere from one to six months, with the median being 46 days.
• The likelihood of long-term symptoms were higher in teenagers, girls (with 80% increased odds) and children with other long-term conditions (with three times the odds).
• There was no obvious correlation between long COVID and children who were ages 0-12 years.

They also found inconsistencies in the most common symptoms reported by the participants. For example, about 28% reported general symptoms (e.g., fatigue, tiredness), about 25% noted ENT (i.e., ear, nose and throat) issues, and airway issues affected about 20% of the participants.

Less commonly, some children reported dealing with gastrointestinal, dermatological, and neurological symptoms, including headache. Cardiovascular symptoms were seen in 10% of the children; even less children reported muscular symptoms.

What This Means

The researchers concluded that most children with long COVID did not have a history of the initial coronavirus infection. Having a history of this infection was correlated with double the risk of suffering from persistent symptoms, and surprisingly, the prevalence of long-term symptoms was lower in hospitalized children (compared with other findings from other studies).

Larger sample sizes are needed to assess the risk factors, the underlying causes of long-term symptoms in those with undetected initial infection, the longevity of the symptoms, as well as the risk of long-term symptoms in comparison with other respiratory conditions. 

*Thomas, L. (2021, June 7). Around 5% of children develop long COVID-19 symptoms, suggests new study. News-Medical.Net. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210607/Around-525-of-children-develop-long-COVID-19-symptoms-suggests-new-study.aspx 

Much about the novel coronavirus, i.e., COVID-19, is still not fully understood. As research progresses and our knowledge of the virus increases, information can change rapidly. We strive to update all of our articles as quickly as possible, but there may occasionally be some lag between scientific developments and our revisions