Nearly six percent of children admitted to the Emergency Department (ED) with Covid-19 report symptoms of persistent Covid 90 days later, a new study says.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, showed that an initial hospitalization of 48 hours or more, four or more symptoms at the initial ED visit and being older than 14 years were associated with prolonged COVID-19.
“We found that in some children, having Covid-19 was associated with reporting persistent symptoms after three months,” said researcher Stephen Friedman of the University of Calgary.
“Our results suggest that appropriate guidance and follow-up are needed, especially for children at high risk of prolonged Covid,” Friedman added.
For the study, the team included 1,884 children with Covid-19 who were followed for 90 days.
Long-Covid was found in nearly 10 percent of hospitalized children and five percent of children discharged from the emergency department.
“Reported rates of sustained Covid in adults are significantly higher than what we found in children,” said researcher Nathan Cooperman of the University of California, Davis.
“Our findings can inform public health policy decisions regarding Covid-19 mitigation strategies for children and screening approaches for persistent Covid among those with severe infections,” Kuppermann added.
The most commonly reported persistent symptoms in children are fatigue or weakness, cough, difficulty breathing, or shortness of breath.
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