Long COVID or Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) in Children and Adolescents.

Introduction

Few studies of children with long COVID (post-COVID-19 condition) or post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 (PASC) have been reported. Those terms describe symptoms that persist for weeks or months or as new symptoms that develop after SARS-CoV-2 infection. This condition might be found to various degrees in the severity of COVID-19. This study aimed to describe long COVID in confirmed SARS-CoV-2-infected children.

Design

An observational cross-sectional study.

Setting

Tertiary care hospital between January and November 2021.

Participants

Children, age 5-17 years, with virologically confirmed COVID?19.

Methods

This study was conducted by completing an electronic form after informed consent was obtained. The subject's characteristics and parent's or guardian's phone numbers were retrieved from the pediatric COVID-19 registry. Parents were contacted to complete a structured electronic questionnaire about the long COVID symptoms noticed in their children. Descriptive statistics were displayed in percentages and median.

Results

Parent contact numbers were documented in 125/135 children who fulfilled the study criteria. There were 61 parents (48.8%) who gave consent, while the rest either did not respond or refused. There were 16 children reported as deceased primarily due to chronic renal disease and leukemia. Of the 45 children enrolled, the median (IQR) age was 11 years (5.3-17.6); 51.1% were female; and 75.6% had comorbidities. Two-thirds developed long COVID symptoms, most frequently in the age 5-9 years group, and mostly fatigue (45.2%), decreased appetite (38.7%), and muscle aches (32.3%). All patients with moderate to severe and more than half asymptomatic to mild COVID-19 developed long COVID.

Conclusion

Most children had long COVID symptoms similar to adults despite being otherwise asymptomatic or having mild COVID-19.