Thread by @elisaperego78

#LongCovidKids in Iran 🇮🇷

Cohort of 58 pediatric patients referred to hospital in the Farsi province | February--November 2020 | confirmed covid diagnosis | ❗44% with reported #LongCovid three months after hospital discharge

🧵 with main study finds

link.springer.com/article/10.100…

https://twitter.com/lilystbarth/status/1457310930870677507

26 children out of 58 reported #LongCovid symptoms | 55% female | age assessed 6--17 years | data collected via phone three months after hospital discharge | main symptoms noted include fatigue, shortness of breath, exercise intolerance, walking intolerance

#LongCovidKids

other reported #LongCovid symptoms: sleep disruption, joint and muscle pain, cough, headache, excess sputum, chest pain, palpitations, dizziness, loss of smell (and others) | symptom severity as reported ranged from "mild" to disabling |

#LongCovidKids

Symptoms in the acute phase included fever, cough, respiratory distress, muscle pain and diarrhoea | 17% needed intensive care in PICU | hospital stay length ranged from 1 to ❗56 days | mean 7 days | 70% had no pre-existing conditions

#LongCovidKids

My take aways from the study 🔥 including limitations: covid less dangerous in children than adults but it's *not* a benign disease in any age group ❗| #LongCovidKids is not rare | it seems common post hospital discharge | it can be disabling in a number of cases

The study focused on hospitalization only | children under 6 were excluded because research was based on reported symptoms and not tests | in almost all cases, the phone interview was done to *parents* ❗ | we don't know directly, thus, how children experienced their symptoms

we have to wonder, for example, if symptoms reported as "mild" by parents and researchers were *always* experienced as such by the young patients ❗ | the study focused on a specific time point i.e. three months post discharge | we know however #LongCovid is a dynamic disease

not all potential #LongCovid symptoms were evaluated by the team and the study was symptom based | symptoms evaluated were only new symptoms after covid (point to be considered for children with pre-existing conditions like asthma)

@TigressEllie @LongCovidKids @LCKScotland @LckUsa @Antonio_Caramia @docdrugztore @FranceskoNew of interest
Thanks @lilystbarth for directing me to the study @apresj20 #apresJ20