1 in 7 children may have symptoms associated with it coronavirus Months after testing positive for COVID-19, authors of an English study on prolonged COVID-19 in adolescents said on Wednesday.
Children with COVID-19 are rarely seriously ill, but they can suffer from lingering symptoms, and this study is the largest of its kind to look at how common the so-called long COVID is in the age group.
The study, led by University College London and Public Health England, found that 11 to 17-year-olds who tested positive for the virus were more likely to report three or more symptoms 15 weeks later than those who tested negative. was double.
Researchers surveyed 3,065 11- to 17-year-olds in England who had a positive result in a PCR test between January and March, and a control group of 3,739 11- to 17-year-olds during the same period. tested negative.
Among those who tested positive, 14% reported three or more symptoms such as unusual fatigue or headache after 15 weeks, compared with 7% reporting symptoms by that time in the control group.
Researchers said the findings suggest 32,000 adolescents may have many of the symptoms associated with COVID-19 after 15 weeks, with the age group having longer COVID-19 prevalence than feared last year.
“Overall, in December people would have guessed it was better,” Professor Terence Stephenson from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health told reporters.
Findings were a pre-print that was not peer-reviewed. The authors said any decision to expand vaccination to 12 to 15-year-olds in the UK was unlikely to be based on this study because there was not enough data on whether vaccination protects against prolonged COVID.
“We are finding increasing evidence on the safety of vaccines in 12 to 15-year-olds and this is more likely to be looked at,” Liz Whitaker, a pediatrician at Imperial College London, told reporters.
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