Cargando…

Comparison of Persistent Symptoms After COVID-19 and Other Non-SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children

Introduction: The data on long COVID in children is scarce since children and adolescents are typically less severely affected by acute COVID-19. This study aimed to identify the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, and to compare the persistent symptom spectrum between COVID-...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Roge, Ieva, Smane, Liene, Kivite-Urtane, Anda, Pucuka, Zanda, Racko, Iveta, Klavina, Lizete, Pavare, Jana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8586002/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34778143
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.752385
_version_ 1784597806805155840
author Roge, Ieva
Smane, Liene
Kivite-Urtane, Anda
Pucuka, Zanda
Racko, Iveta
Klavina, Lizete
Pavare, Jana
author_facet Roge, Ieva
Smane, Liene
Kivite-Urtane, Anda
Pucuka, Zanda
Racko, Iveta
Klavina, Lizete
Pavare, Jana
author_sort Roge, Ieva
collection PubMed
description Introduction: The data on long COVID in children is scarce since children and adolescents are typically less severely affected by acute COVID-19. This study aimed to identify the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, and to compare the persistent symptom spectrum between COVID-19 and community-acquired infections of other etiologies. Methods: This was an ambidirectional cohort study conducted at the Children's Clinical University Hospital in Latvia. The study population of pediatric COVID-19 patients and children with other non-SARS-CoV-2-community-acquired infections were invited to participate between July 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021. Results: In total, 236 pediatric COVID-19 patients were enrolled in the study. Additionally, 142 comparison group patients were also enrolled. Median follow-up time from acute symptom onset was 73.5 days (IQR; 43–110 days) in the COVID-19 patient group and 69 days (IQR, 58–84 days) in the comparison group. Most pediatric COVID-19 survivors (70%, N = 152) reported at least one persistent symptom, but more than half of the patients (53%, N = 117) noted two or more long-lasting symptoms. The most commonly reported complaints among COVID-19 patients included persistent fatigue (25.2%), cognitive sequelae, such as irritability (24.3%), and mood changes (23.3%), as well as headaches (16.9%), rhinorrhea (16.1%), coughing (14.4%), and anosmia/dysgeusia (12.3%). In addition, 105 (44.5%) COVID patients had persistent symptoms after the 12-week cut-off point, with irritability (27.6%, N = 29), mood changes (26.7%, N = 28), and fatigue (19.2%, N = 20) being the most commonly reported ones. Differences in symptom spectrum among the various age groups were seen. Logistic regression analysis showed that long-term persistent symptoms as fever, fatigue, rhinorrhea, loss of taste and/or smell, headaches, cognitive sequelae, and nocturnal sweating were significantly associated with the COVID-19 experience when compared with the controls. Conclusions: We found that at the time of interview almost three-quarters of children reported at least one persistent symptom, but the majority of patients (53%) had two or more concurrent symptoms. The comparison group's inclusion in the study allowed us to identify that symptom persistence is more apparent with COVID-19 than any other non-SARS-CoV-2 infection. More research is needed to distinguish the symptoms of long COVID from pandemic-associated complaints. Each persistent symptom is important in terms of child well-being during COVID-19 recovery.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8586002
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-85860022021-11-13 Comparison of Persistent Symptoms After COVID-19 and Other Non-SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children Roge, Ieva Smane, Liene Kivite-Urtane, Anda Pucuka, Zanda Racko, Iveta Klavina, Lizete Pavare, Jana Front Pediatr Pediatrics Introduction: The data on long COVID in children is scarce since children and adolescents are typically less severely affected by acute COVID-19. This study aimed to identify the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children, and to compare the persistent symptom spectrum between COVID-19 and community-acquired infections of other etiologies. Methods: This was an ambidirectional cohort study conducted at the Children's Clinical University Hospital in Latvia. The study population of pediatric COVID-19 patients and children with other non-SARS-CoV-2-community-acquired infections were invited to participate between July 1, 2020, and April 30, 2021. Results: In total, 236 pediatric COVID-19 patients were enrolled in the study. Additionally, 142 comparison group patients were also enrolled. Median follow-up time from acute symptom onset was 73.5 days (IQR; 43–110 days) in the COVID-19 patient group and 69 days (IQR, 58–84 days) in the comparison group. Most pediatric COVID-19 survivors (70%, N = 152) reported at least one persistent symptom, but more than half of the patients (53%, N = 117) noted two or more long-lasting symptoms. The most commonly reported complaints among COVID-19 patients included persistent fatigue (25.2%), cognitive sequelae, such as irritability (24.3%), and mood changes (23.3%), as well as headaches (16.9%), rhinorrhea (16.1%), coughing (14.4%), and anosmia/dysgeusia (12.3%). In addition, 105 (44.5%) COVID patients had persistent symptoms after the 12-week cut-off point, with irritability (27.6%, N = 29), mood changes (26.7%, N = 28), and fatigue (19.2%, N = 20) being the most commonly reported ones. Differences in symptom spectrum among the various age groups were seen. Logistic regression analysis showed that long-term persistent symptoms as fever, fatigue, rhinorrhea, loss of taste and/or smell, headaches, cognitive sequelae, and nocturnal sweating were significantly associated with the COVID-19 experience when compared with the controls. Conclusions: We found that at the time of interview almost three-quarters of children reported at least one persistent symptom, but the majority of patients (53%) had two or more concurrent symptoms. The comparison group's inclusion in the study allowed us to identify that symptom persistence is more apparent with COVID-19 than any other non-SARS-CoV-2 infection. More research is needed to distinguish the symptoms of long COVID from pandemic-associated complaints. Each persistent symptom is important in terms of child well-being during COVID-19 recovery. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-10-29 /pmc/articles/PMC8586002/ /pubmed/34778143 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.752385 Text en Copyright © 2021 Roge, Smane, Kivite-Urtane, Pucuka, Racko, Klavina and Pavare. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Pediatrics
Roge, Ieva
Smane, Liene
Kivite-Urtane, Anda
Pucuka, Zanda
Racko, Iveta
Klavina, Lizete
Pavare, Jana
Comparison of Persistent Symptoms After COVID-19 and Other Non-SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children
title Comparison of Persistent Symptoms After COVID-19 and Other Non-SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children
title_full Comparison of Persistent Symptoms After COVID-19 and Other Non-SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children
title_fullStr Comparison of Persistent Symptoms After COVID-19 and Other Non-SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children
title_full_unstemmed Comparison of Persistent Symptoms After COVID-19 and Other Non-SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children
title_short Comparison of Persistent Symptoms After COVID-19 and Other Non-SARS-CoV-2 Infections in Children
title_sort comparison of persistent symptoms after covid-19 and other non-sars-cov-2 infections in children
topic Pediatrics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8586002/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34778143
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fped.2021.752385
work_keys_str_mv AT rogeieva comparisonofpersistentsymptomsaftercovid19andothernonsarscov2infectionsinchildren
AT smaneliene comparisonofpersistentsymptomsaftercovid19andothernonsarscov2infectionsinchildren
AT kiviteurtaneanda comparisonofpersistentsymptomsaftercovid19andothernonsarscov2infectionsinchildren
AT pucukazanda comparisonofpersistentsymptomsaftercovid19andothernonsarscov2infectionsinchildren
AT rackoiveta comparisonofpersistentsymptomsaftercovid19andothernonsarscov2infectionsinchildren
AT klavinalizete comparisonofpersistentsymptomsaftercovid19andothernonsarscov2infectionsinchildren
AT pavarejana comparisonofpersistentsymptomsaftercovid19andothernonsarscov2infectionsinchildren