Alberto Caldas Afonso (Portugal)
Centro Materno Infantil do Norte, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto (CHUPorto) Pediatric Department, Infectious Diseases and Immunodeficiencies UnitAuthor Of 1 Presentation
LONG COVID IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS - A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY IN A PEDIATRIC COHORT
Abstract
Backgrounds:
Studies on clinical outcomes of children with COVID-19 are scarce, particularly in those with asymptomatic and mild disease. We aimed to describe COVID-19 persistent symptoms in patients presenting to a tertiary hospital and to search risk factors for the development of long COVID.
Methods
A retrospective study was performed including all the patients under 18 years that presented at our tertiary hospital between March 2020 and September 2021 that had a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test. At admission they were monitored on a home-care basis by telephone and then, with an appointment at 4,12 and 24 weeks to evaluate persistent symptoms.
Results:
A total of 242 patients were included, 55.0% of them females, mean age of 77 months, with 38.0% of adolescents. Chronic conditions were identified in 36.0% and 7.4% were obese. At admission, 5.8% had moderate disease and 2.9% severe. At 4 weeks, 20.1% had persistent symptoms (Graph 1): fatigue (8.7%), chronic cough (6.7%) and rhinorrhea (6.6%). At 12 weeks, 13.1% had symptoms: fatigue (7.4%), behavioral changes (4.4%) and sleep disturbance (3.7%). At 24 weeks, 6.5% had symptoms: sleep disturbance (3.6%) and fatigue (2.9%). Symptoms’ persistence was more frequent in patients with chronic conditions (12x more at 24 weeks, p<0.05). Persistent fatigue was more prevalent in adolescents (p=0.013), obese (p<0.01) and with severe disease (p<0.01). Behavioral changes were also more frequent in adolescents (p=0.021).
Conclusions/Learning Points:
In our cohort, an important proportion of patients presented symptoms after COVID infection, being respiratory symptoms more frequent in the first weeks and neuropsychiatric symptoms over time. Chronic conditions and obesity were risk factors for persistent symptoms at 6 months after illness and adolescents were the group with greater risk for long-COVID. Persistent fatigue was of utmost importance.