π 121 children aged 0--18 years
π 37.2% had symptoms for at least 1 month
π symptoms included coughing, fatigue, SOB, chest and back pain, dizziness, headache, palpitations
π clear evidence of cardiovascular involvement
π clinical signs on cardiovascular evaluation included changes and abnormalities in systolic blood pressure, left ventricular ejection fraction, relative wall thickness, and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion
π evaluation included echocardiogram
π a control group of 95 healthy children included
π the covid plus and control groups were comparable in age, weight, body mass index
π yet, statistically significant cardiovascular involvement was in the covid group π₯
π #LongCovidKids is real, with clinical signs π₯
π further research is recommend by the study's authors to further evaluate cardiovascular disease in #LongCovidKids
Davis et al (2021) characterize #LongCovid in a large cohort of patients at 7 months from symptom onset. Patients come from support groups in many different countries.
Countries that managed to eliminate or strictly contain SARS-CoV-2, like New Zealand, have been put at continuous risk by poor policy making from the rest of the world.
This includes poor political and public health choices in the EU, the UK and the US.
Quite a few other countries, like Italy in the first wave, came close to elimination, too
Lombardy, one of the worst hit areas in the world in 2020, managed to crush the curve despite many mistakes in active pandemic management. Yes, I was there. I speak of reality, not models
I agree 100% with @emilyesfraser. Minimizing #LongCovid is a huge failure in public health. One of the biggest in the pandemic.
People have been misled since the beginning about the gravity of covid. The long-term effects are often devastating, even, potentially, in children
π 49% sampled patients remained symptomatic after 1 year
π 1276 survivors from Wuhan hospital
π one of the longest follow up in the world, with data at 12 month and comparison with data at 6 month from the same cohort
Key data points and take aways
π 30% with dyspnea at 12 month, up from 26% at 6 month
π 26% with symptoms described as "anxiety" or "depression" at 12 month, up from 23% at 6 month
π 12% of patients who were employed before covid couldn't go back to work
π 12% had abnormal results at six minute walking distance test, down from 14% at 6 month
π 3 patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke, 1 stable angina
π Lung diffusion impairment found in 23--54% patients at 12 month (three groups of severity). No improvement from 6 month mark
PET scans reveal neurological damage in a sample of children following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Comparable issues were previously found by the same research group in #LongCovid adults.
Thanks to our friends of @apresj20 for sharing this important news.
A severe burden of neurological long term effects from SARS-CoV-2 infection has already been reported in a vast sample published in a @TheLancet venue.
Data at 6 months after onset in thousands of patients.