Kids who catch Covid are more likely to be left with debilitating lingering symptoms than adults, landmark new research has suggested.
US scientists found children were left with prolonged symptoms ‘in almost every organ system’ after being struck down with the virus — a phenomenon now better known as long Covid.
The researchers, who tracked almost 4,000 kids who’d been infected, also discovered younger children were more likely to suffer trouble with memory or focusing, and teens a loss of taste or smell.
Experts today labelled the findings ‘convincing evidence’ that kids are not ‘faking it’ and warned, ‘we will need to be prepared to deal with it for a generation’.
It comes as Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s daughter Violet last month revealed she contracted a post-viral condition in 2019 and urged medical facilities to impose ‘mask mandates’ in a passionate speech to the LA County Board of Supervisors.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s daughter Violet last month revealed she contracted a post-viral condition in 2019 and urged medical facilities to impose ‘mask mandates’ in a passionate speech to the LA County Board of Supervisors
The 18-year-old called on the board ‘to confront the long Covid crisis’ by strengthening pandemic-era protections in hospitals and government buildings. Pictured, Jennifer Garner with Violet Affleck
The 18-year-old called on the board ‘to confront the long Covid crisis’ by strengthening pandemic-era protections in hospitals and government buildings.
US officials suggest one in ten people who catch the virus will develop long Covid, while around two million people in the UK are reported to live with the condition, including 60,000 children.
Professor Lawrence Kleinman, an expert in pediatrics and population health at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and study co-author said: ‘We have convincing evidence that Covid is not just a mild, benign illness for children.
‘Some children are severely affected, they are not faking it or making it up.
‘This is a new chronic illness in children with all the unknowns that brings. We will need to be prepared to deal with it for a generation.’
Symptoms of long Covid have long been thought to be wide-ranging, from fatigue and breathlessness to muscle and joint pain.
In the new study, researchers analysed survey results submitted by the parents or guardians of almost 900 school age children aged 6 to 11 and over 4,000 adolescents, aged 12 to 17.
Of the the school age children, 751 had suffered a Covid infection. This figure stood at 3,109 among adolescents.
The survey assessed 74 known and potential long Covid symptoms across nine areas of the body including the heart and lungs, neurological, menstrual and gastrointestinal.
US scientists found children were left with prolonged symptoms ‘in almost every organ system’ after being struck down with the virus — a phenomenon now better known as long Covid
Researchers found 45 percent of school-age children with Covid reported at least one prolonged symptom after initial recovery versus 33 percent of uninfected children.
More than a third (39 per cent) of Covid infected adolescents, meanwhile, reported one prolonged symptom, compared with 27 percent of uninfected adolescents.
But the most common symptoms among adolescents were loss of smell and taste, followed by low energy, muscle aches and fatigue.
Among school-age children, memory and focus issues topped the list, followed by stomach pain, headaches and back or neck pain.
By comparison, adults who had been struck down by the virus reported 37 symptoms more frequently than those who did not have Covid, including brain fog, and gastrointestinal and heart symptoms.
Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the scientists said children experienced prolonged symptoms after Covid infection ‘in almost every organ system, with the vast majority having multisystem involvement’.
Dr Tanayott Thaweethai, study co-author and an expert in biostatistics at Harvard University also said: ‘This work describes the first data-driven approach to revealing symptom patterns among school-age children and adolescents, which are both distinct from those seen in adults.
‘We hope this leads to a better understanding of long Covid in pediatric populations.’
Ministers have repeatedly said they won’t resort to imposing lockdowns unless a doomsday Covid variant appears.
A wall of immunity among the population — built up by repeated waves of infection and vaccine rollouts — has given officials confidence to consign pandemic-era measures to history.
Spikes in Covid cases can still cause mass illness across the country, sparking chaos in schools, the health service and public transport.
But officials also no longer track the prevalence of the virus in the same way they used to, as part of the Government’s ushering in of pre-Covid normalities.
