COVID-19: Children may experience symptoms for longer period, study finds

By: Anshul Vipat

This is the largest such study of long Covid symptoms among children under the age of 14

The study conducted in Denmark compared samples of around 11,000 Danish children under 14 who had tested positive for Covid-19 between January 2020 and July 2021 with more than 33,000 who had never tested positive for COVID-19. The survey asked the participants about the 23 most common symptoms of long COVID-19 in children and used the World Health Organization definition of long COVID-19 as symptoms lasting more than two months.

According to the report, children belonging 0-3 years age group reported symptoms like rashes, mood swings and stomach aches. Among 4-11 years old, the most commonly reported symptoms were mood swings, trouble remembering or concentrating, and rashes, while those between ages 12-14 reported fatigue, mood swings, and trouble concentrating. Also the quality-of-life scores were actually higher and reports of anxiety were lower for those who had tested positive for Covid.

(Source: The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health study)

In the 0-3 years age group 40 percent of children diagnosed with covid (478 of 1,194 children) experienced symptoms for longer than two months, compared to 27 per cent non-covid children. For the 4-11 years age group, the ratio was 38 percent of cases (1,912 of 5,023 children), and for the 12-14 years age group, 46 percent of cases (1,313 of 2,857 children) experienced long-lasting symptoms. In addition, with increasing duration of symptoms, the proportion of children with those symptoms tended to decrease. Among those aged 12–14 years, in both cases and controls, girls had more symptoms than did boys. Generally, children diagnosed with COVID-19 reported less psychological and social problems than children in the control group, they said.

Authors believe that it is important to have a better understanding of the pandemic’s effects on young people. It will help to guide clinical recognition, caregiving strategies and societal decisions such as lockdowns and vaccination. Knowledge of of the burden of long Covid among children can address the breadth of harms children and adolescents are experiencing.