Cargando…
Prevalence and clinical presentation of long COVID in children: a systematic review
A systematic literature review was conducted up to 15th February 2022 to summarize long COVID evidence and to assess prevalence and clinical presentation in children and adolescents. Articles reporting long COVID prevalence and symptoms based on original data in the paediatric population were includ...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2022
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9476461/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36107254 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00431-022-04600-x |
_version_ | 1784790142750294016 |
---|---|
author | Pellegrino, Roberta Chiappini, Elena Licari, Amelia Galli, Luisa Marseglia, Gian Luigi |
author_facet | Pellegrino, Roberta Chiappini, Elena Licari, Amelia Galli, Luisa Marseglia, Gian Luigi |
author_sort | Pellegrino, Roberta |
collection | PubMed |
description | A systematic literature review was conducted up to 15th February 2022 to summarize long COVID evidence and to assess prevalence and clinical presentation in children and adolescents. Articles reporting long COVID prevalence and symptoms based on original data in the paediatric population were included. Case series quality was assessed through the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist. For observational studies, adherence to STROBE checklist was evaluated. Twenty-two articles were included: 19 observational studies (12 cohort/7 cross-sectional) and 3 case series. Nine studies provided a control group. We found a high variability in terms of prevalence (1.6–70%). The most frequently reported symptoms were fatigue (2–87%), headache (3.5–80%), arthro-myalgias (5.4–66%), chest tightness or pain (1.4–51%), and dyspnoea (2–57.1%). Five studies reported limitations in daily function due to long COVID. Alterations at brain imaging were described in one study, transient electrocardiographic abnormalities were described in a minority of children, while most authors did not evidence long-term pulmonary sequelae. Older age, female sex, and previous long-term pathological conditions were more frequently associated with persistent symptoms. Conclusion: Long COVID evidence in children is limited, heterogeneous, and based on low-quality studies. The lockdown consequences are difficult to distinguish from long COVID symptoms. High-quality studies are required: WHO definition of long COVID should be used, controlled clinical studies should be encouraged, and the impact of new variants on long COVID prevalence should be investigated to ensure an objective analysis of long COVID characteristics in children and a proper allocation of healthcare system resources. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00431-022-04600-x. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9476461 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-94764612022-09-15 Prevalence and clinical presentation of long COVID in children: a systematic review Pellegrino, Roberta Chiappini, Elena Licari, Amelia Galli, Luisa Marseglia, Gian Luigi Eur J Pediatr Review A systematic literature review was conducted up to 15th February 2022 to summarize long COVID evidence and to assess prevalence and clinical presentation in children and adolescents. Articles reporting long COVID prevalence and symptoms based on original data in the paediatric population were included. Case series quality was assessed through the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist. For observational studies, adherence to STROBE checklist was evaluated. Twenty-two articles were included: 19 observational studies (12 cohort/7 cross-sectional) and 3 case series. Nine studies provided a control group. We found a high variability in terms of prevalence (1.6–70%). The most frequently reported symptoms were fatigue (2–87%), headache (3.5–80%), arthro-myalgias (5.4–66%), chest tightness or pain (1.4–51%), and dyspnoea (2–57.1%). Five studies reported limitations in daily function due to long COVID. Alterations at brain imaging were described in one study, transient electrocardiographic abnormalities were described in a minority of children, while most authors did not evidence long-term pulmonary sequelae. Older age, female sex, and previous long-term pathological conditions were more frequently associated with persistent symptoms. Conclusion: Long COVID evidence in children is limited, heterogeneous, and based on low-quality studies. The lockdown consequences are difficult to distinguish from long COVID symptoms. High-quality studies are required: WHO definition of long COVID should be used, controlled clinical studies should be encouraged, and the impact of new variants on long COVID prevalence should be investigated to ensure an objective analysis of long COVID characteristics in children and a proper allocation of healthcare system resources. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00431-022-04600-x. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022-09-15 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9476461/ /pubmed/36107254 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00431-022-04600-x Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Review Pellegrino, Roberta Chiappini, Elena Licari, Amelia Galli, Luisa Marseglia, Gian Luigi Prevalence and clinical presentation of long COVID in children: a systematic review |
title | Prevalence and clinical presentation of long COVID in children: a systematic review |
title_full | Prevalence and clinical presentation of long COVID in children: a systematic review |
title_fullStr | Prevalence and clinical presentation of long COVID in children: a systematic review |
title_full_unstemmed | Prevalence and clinical presentation of long COVID in children: a systematic review |
title_short | Prevalence and clinical presentation of long COVID in children: a systematic review |
title_sort | prevalence and clinical presentation of long covid in children: a systematic review |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9476461/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36107254 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00431-022-04600-x |
work_keys_str_mv | AT pellegrinoroberta prevalenceandclinicalpresentationoflongcovidinchildrenasystematicreview AT chiappinielena prevalenceandclinicalpresentationoflongcovidinchildrenasystematicreview AT licariamelia prevalenceandclinicalpresentationoflongcovidinchildrenasystematicreview AT galliluisa prevalenceandclinicalpresentationoflongcovidinchildrenasystematicreview AT marsegliagianluigi prevalenceandclinicalpresentationoflongcovidinchildrenasystematicreview |