Topline
A new study sheds light on how long Covid affects children, showing nearly 6% who contracted the illness and 10% of children hospitalized with it still had symptoms around 3 months later, as more data emerges of the long-term impact of Covid-19 on the body.
A study published Friday in JAMA found 6% of children are at risk of long Covid symptoms. (Photo by … [+]
Key Facts
The study, published Friday in JAMA, found long Covid symptoms in nearly 10% of hospitalized children and nearly 5% of children discharged from the emergency department, 90 days after contracting the virus.
Nearly 60% of children who reported symptoms after 90 days had one “persistent, new or recurring” health problem at their 90-day follow up.
The most commonly reported persistent symptoms were respiratory (2%) and systemic (1.8%), including fatigue, weakness, fever and anorexia.
The study used data on 1,884 children brought to 39 pediatric emergency departments between March 2020 and January 2021, who had a 90-day follow up after contracting the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines long Covid as a “wide range of ongoing health problems,” including fatigue, memory issues, breathing issues and loss of smell or taste, which can last “weeks, months or years.”
The study comes two months after a CDC report found one in five people with Covid-19 may develop long-term symptoms, while vaccination lowers the risk by 15%, according to a Washington University School of Medicine study published in Nature Medicine.
Tangent
The risk of long Covid longer than 12 weeks is also higher among women, older people, white people and individuals with certain pre-existing health conditions, according to a study released last month in the British journal Nature Communications. Overall, the study found 7.8% to 17% of people with Covid-19 had long Covid symptoms longer than 12 weeks, including 1.2% to 4.8% with “debilitating symptoms.”
Further Reading
How Common Is Long Covid? More Common Than You’d Think (Forbes)
Study Finds Women, White And Older People At Greater Risk Of ‘Long Covid’ (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/07/22/around-1-in-16-children-develop-long-covid-study-suggests/