Thread by @ShamezLadhani

“Acute and persistent symptoms in children with SARS-CoV-2 infection”

Our national case-control study on “post-acute #COVID19 syndrome” using PCR-testing is now published in Clinical Infectious Diseases @OUPAcademic

👉 academic.oup.com/cid/advance-ar…

2/ We used national testing data to compare a range of different symptoms at the time of infection & 1 month later in 2-16 year-olds with PCR-confirmed #SARSCoV2 infection (cases) compared to matched children with a negative #SARS_CoV_2 PCR test (controls) in January 2021

3/ The most important message is that nearly all kids with #COVID19 recovered quickly without having to see a doctor or go to hospital.

After 1 month, 93.3% of kids with symptomatic #COVID19 had recovered vs 96.8% of symptomatic kids who tested negative for #SARSCoV2 (p=0.24)

4/ We asked about 65 symptoms after 1 month & found that most were equally common in cases & controls

But we did find 3 small & significant clusters of symptoms in symptomatic cases (3-7%) vs symptomatic controls (0-3%):
- sensory
- neurological
- emotional/behavioural wellbeing

5/ Cluster 1: sensory symptoms (loss of smell, taste & *oddly* eye pain) are characteristic of #COVID19, reported in ~1 in 5 kids, and while most recovered after infection, these symptoms persisted in 5-7% for >1 month 👉 We need longer-term follow-up data for this group

6/ Cluster 2: Confusion - commonly known as brain fog - was reported in 5.6% of kids with symptomatic #COVID19 but not in symptomatic controls 👉 We need better tools & resources to understand, diagnose, follow-up and support this group of children & their family

7/ Cluster 3: Mental health symptoms (sadness, difficulty sleeping, mood swings & anxiety) were reported by symptomatic & asymptomatic cases & controls but more frequent among symptomatic cases 👉 Supporting mental health of all kids needs to be our top priority in this pandemic

8/ In conclusion, nearly all kids with symptomatic #COVID19 recover quickly, but ~5% may have persistent symptoms for >1 month, similar to other viral illnesses. These results are consistent with recent case-control studies

👉 thelancet.com/journals/lanch…

👉 bmj.com/content/374/bm…