Thursday, January 26, 2023
News on Pathogens and Preparedness
Global Biodefense
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
Global Biodefense
No Result
View All Result
Home Infectious Diseases

Many Children Hospitalized with COVID-19 or MIS-C Have Lingering Complications Months Later

by Global Biodefense Staff
August 12, 2022
Many Children Hospitalized with COVID-19 or MIS-C Have Lingering Complications Months Later

Sheri Flores, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit charge nurse, secures a pulse oximeter on patient, Margaret Moore. Photo: Jason W. Edwards

National follow-up study identifies risk factors for a prolonged recovery

In one of the largest follow-up studies to date, involving 25 pediatric hospitals, more than a quarter of children and adolescents hospitalized with coronavirus infection early in the pandemic still had health problems two to four months later, either persisting symptoms or activity impairment. The study, led by Boston Children’s Hospital, is published August 12 in the journal Pediatrics.

As part of the national Overcoming COVID-19 study, investigators led by Adrienne Randolph, MD, MSc, of Boston Children’s surveyed family caregivers of patients under age 21 who were hospitalized with COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). The study period ran from May 2020 to May 2021, before vaccines were available. Of 358 patients, the researchers got survey responses for 279, or 78 percent.

Of these children and youth, roughly 40 percent were hospitalized with acute COVID-19 and roughly 60 percent with MIS-C. Fifty percent and 86 percent, respectively, were admitted to the intensive care unit.

At two- to four-month follow up, 27 percent of patients with acute COVID-19 and 30 percent of those with MIS-C had persistent symptoms, activity impairment, or both.

“Almost three quarters were back to baseline, which is reassuring,” says Randolph. “But unfortunately, more than one in four were not. Although this is much better than many reports in hospitalized older adults, it is still very worrisome. The risks of severe illness and lingering complications are higher than the risk of complications from the vaccine, which are very rare.”

Of the children and adolescents with lingering symptoms, the most common symptoms were:

  • fatigue or weakness, affecting 11.3 percent of those with COVID-19 and 20 percent of those with MIS-C
  • shortness of breath (9.2 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively)
  • cough (9.2 and 2.5 percent)
  • headache (8.4 and 7.5 percent)
  • muscle and body aches (5 and 3.1 percent)
  • fever (2.5 and 0.6 percent).

Activity impairment was somewhat more common after MIS-C (affecting 21.3 percent) than after acute COVID-19 (14.3 percent). According to caregiver reports:

  • 6.7 percent of the COVID-19 group and 14.4 percent of the MIS-C group could not walk or exercise as much as before.
  • 6.7 and 7.5 percent, respectively, were sleeping much more than usual.
  • 4.2 and 3.8 percent, respectively, had difficulty getting schoolwork done or felt distracted and unable to focus.

Three factors predicted an increased risk for a prolonged recovery or activity impairment:

  • more organ system involvement in patients with acute COVID-19
  • underlying respiratory conditions (usually asthma) in patients with MIS-C
  • obesity in patients with MIS-C.

Randolph notes that this study was limited to children and adolescents who needed to be admitted to the hospital, and that it took place early in the pandemic; most were admitted before the Delta surge.

“We’re in the process of analyzing more recent data covering the Delta period and part of the Omicron period, including effects on health-related quality of life,” Randolph says. “I think it’s possible there will be differences. It’s important to understand how all the different variants affect children and to track how effective vaccination is in preventing long-term complications.”

Ongoing investigations led by Boston Children’s are also looking at neurologic complications of acute COVID-19 and MIS-C using detailed neurocognitive testing, Randolph says.

“Now that vaccines are available, I strongly recommend that children and adolescents get vaccinated,” she says. “We know that patients can be re-infected even if they’ve had COVID-19, and we previously showed that vaccination can prevent MIS-C and severe COVID-19.”

Source: Boston Children’s Hospital, adapted

Tags: COVID-19EpidemiologyLong COVIDPediatric Infectious DiseasesSARS-CoV-2

Related Posts

How Are Bivalent COVID Vaccines Stacking Up Against Omicron?
Infectious Diseases

How Are Bivalent COVID Vaccines Stacking Up Against Omicron?

January 12, 2023
Officials Declare End to Ebola Outbreak in Uganda
Infectious Diseases

Officials Declare End to Ebola Outbreak in Uganda

January 11, 2023
Why Upper Respiratory Infectious are More Common in Colder Temperatures
Infectious Diseases

Why Upper Respiratory Infectious are More Common in Colder Temperatures

December 7, 2022
runners on a track
Infectious Diseases

Feeling Winded After Your Workout? Long COVID May Reduce Exercise Capacity

October 23, 2022
Load More

Latest News

Partner Therapeutics’ Novel Approach to Stratify Sepsis Patients Gains Backing From BARDA

Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment (BRaVE) Initiative Backed by $105M DOE Funding

January 25, 2023
Influenza Proteins Tilt and Wave in ‘Breath-like’ Motions

Influenza Proteins Tilt and Wave in ‘Breath-like’ Motions

January 25, 2023
Biodefense Headlines – 24 January 2023

Biodefense Headlines – 24 January 2023

January 24, 2023
Biodefense Headlines – 17 January 2023

Biodefense Headlines – 17 January 2023

January 17, 2023

Subscribe

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • Featured
  • COVID-19
  • Funding
  • Directory
  • Jobs
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2022 Stemar Media Group LLC

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are okay with it.OkPrivacy policy