Acute and Persistent Symptoms in Children With Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-Confirmed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection Compared With Test-Negative Children in England: Active, Prospective, National Surveillance.
Clin Infect Dis
; 75(1): e191-e200, 2022 08 24.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2017789
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Most children recover quickly after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but some may have ongoing symptoms. Follow-up studies have been limited by small sample sizes and lack of appropriate controls.METHODS:
We used national testing data to identify children aged 2-16 years with a SARS-CoV-2 PCR test during 1-7 January 2021 and randomly selected 1500 PCR-positive cases and 1500 matched PCR-negative controls. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire about the acute illness and prespecified neurological, dermatological, sensory, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, mental health (including emotional and behavioral well-being), and other symptoms experienced ≥5 times at 1 month after the PCR test.RESULTS:
Overall, 35.0% (859/2456) completed the questionnaire, including 38.0% (472/1242) of cases and 32% (387/1214) of controls, of whom 68% (320/472) and 40% (154/387) were symptomatic, respectively. The most prevalent acute symptoms were cough (249/859, 29.0%), fever (236/859, 27.5%), headache (236/859, 27.4%), and fatigue (231/859, 26.9%). One month later, 21/320 (6.7%) of symptomatic cases and 6/154 (4.2%) of symptomatic controls (Pâ =â .24) experienced ongoing symptoms. Of the 65 ongoing symptoms solicited, 3 clusters were significantly (Pâ <â .05) more common, albeit at low prevalence, among symptomatic cases (3-7%) than symptomatic controls (0-3%) neurological, sensory, and emotional and behavioral well-being. Mental health symptoms were reported by all groups but more frequently among symptomatic cases than symptomatic controls or asymptomatic children.CONCLUSIONS:
Children with symptomatic COVID-19 had a slightly higher prevalence of ongoing symptoms than symptomatic controls, and not as high as previously reported. Healthcare resources should be prioritized to support the mental health of children.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Clin Infect Dis
Journal subject:
Communicable Diseases
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Cid
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