COVID-19 infections reportedly led to long-term symptoms for nearly 1 in 5 children | The Highland County Press

Nearly 1 in 5 children and teens diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 showed one or more persistent symptoms three months after the infection, according to a review article published in the August 2023 Pediatrics.

The article, “A Systematic Review of Persistent Clinical Features After SARS-CoV-2 in the Pediatric Population” (published online July 21) examined results of 27 cohort and four cross-sectional studies that included 15,000 pediatric participants. About 16.2 percent of participants reported experiencing one or more of a minimum of 20 core persistent symptoms and clinical features, the research finds.

Researchers noted from the data available that females were more likely to report long-term COVID symptoms, including sleep disturbances and headaches. Other reported symptoms included fatigue, depression, cough, throat pain and gastrointestinal illnesses.

The authors noted that current studies on long COVID in the pediatric population were subjected to great heterogeneity, biases and limitations given the rush to getting information out and interest in COVID-19 studies among the journals. Studies on the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with COVID-19 are also limited, they found.

The authors call for more high-quality, prospective and well-controlled studies to address these issues and recommend that preventing COVID-19 infection and vaccinations for children and adolescents remain a priority. A large proportion of children under age 12 remain unvaccinated globally, and the number of children infected with SARS-CoV-2 have been increasing significantly, according to research.