The largest study so far conducted on the long Covid in under 14 and published on The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health reports that 40% of the little ones recovered from the disease have symptoms of post-infection syndrome. These are stomach pains, marks on the skin, mood problems, a sense of fatigue and even problems with concentration and memory. In this age group they would last at least a couple of monthswhich is then the minimum duration identified by the WHO to be able to talk about long Covid.
The Danish study, in which the authors obviously recommend an in-depth study of the topic “to better understand the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children”, actually opens a new chapter on how Covid is experienced by the youngest and adds an important element to guide future diagnostic processes, care and decisions regarding measures such as vaccination, as well as any new containment measures.
«Our results – he explains Selina Kikkenborg Berg of Copenhagen University Hospital – say that although children who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 are more likely to experience long-term symptoms than those without a previous Covid diagnosis, the pandemic has affected every aspect of the life of all young people»In terms of« quality of life ». As if to say that for the youngest the long Covid is also and above all psychological, the result of isolation measures and habits overturned for long periods. Among other things, the 0-14 range had previously been little investigated compared to long Covid: most of the previous studies had focused on adolescents, with infants and children underrepresented.
Mothers or guardians of under 14 infected with Sars-CoV-2 between January 2020 and July 2021 were therefore sent questionnaires. The goal was precisely to investigate a list of 23 symptoms of long pediatric Covid considered more common after a survey of January 2021, using the criteria of the World Health Organization to define the post-virus syndrome, i.e. taking into account persistent symptoms for more than two months.
Eventually the study evaluated responses for nearly 11 thousand children who had experienced a Covid-19 infection, which were compared with those relating to over 33,000 never positive results. And it emerged that in the 0-3 age group 40% of those who had Covid has had symptoms for more than two months, against 27% of the control group; in 4-11 year olds the percentages were 38% while among 12-14 year olds 46% and 41%. The most frequent ailments were mood swings, skin rashes and stomach pains for those under 3 years of age; mood swings, difficulty remembering or concentrating and rashes among 4-11 year olds, and finally fatigue, mood swings and difficulty remembering or concentrating in 12-14 year olds.
I’m common symptoms among childrenand often not specifically associated with long Covid, yet according to the study, those under 14 who had received a positive diagnosis of Covid-19 had more likely to experience these disorders in the long term, compared to those never infected with Sars-CoV-2. For the authors it is an unequivocal signal that the reported disturbances were aftermath of Covid. As proof is the fact that about a third of children who had been Covid-positive complained of symptoms never experienced before the infection. Furthermore, as the duration of the disturbances increased, the percentage of those who presented them tended to decrease, in a typical long Covid trend.
Work, like all studies, has gods limits. For example the long period elapsed between the Covid diagnosis and the survey. However, “our results are in line with previous studies on long Covid in adolescents – adds Kikkenborg Berg – which showed how, although the chances that children suffer from long Covid are low, especially compared to control groups, this syndrome must be recognized and treated seriously. Further research – he reiterates – will be useful to better understand these symptoms and the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children ».
Maren Rytter of the University of Copenhagen, not involved in the study, commented that although “the study found that symptoms of any kind were slightly more frequent in children who were infected with Sars-CoV-2″, in the age groups considered ” the overall impact of having Covid-19 is likely to be small and much less than the impact of the indirect effects of the pandemic. For most children with non-specific symptoms after Covid-19, the ailments are more likely to be caused by something other than Covid, and if they are related to Covid-19, they are likely to pass over time.
Long Covid, with Omicron even more cases
Omicron 5, with which symptoms the variant that will soon predominate in Italy manifests itself
Source: Vanity Fair
