New study shows how common Long Covid symptoms are in children

A study supported by the National Institutes of Health and published in JAMA shows that symptoms of long-COVID pandemic in children may vary depending on their age.

The new study shows that adolescents most commonly suffer from daytime fatigue/sleepiness or lack of energy, body, muscle or joint pain, headaches, and memory or concentration problems. The most common long-COVID symptom in school-age children was headaches, followed by memory or concentration problems, sleep disorders, and stomach pain.

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The study also found that young people had persistent symptoms in almost every organ system after COVID-19 infection. Most children had symptoms affecting more than one system, the study found.

“Most research characterizing the symptoms of long COVID focuses on adults, which may lead to the false assumption that long COVID is rare in children or that their symptoms are similar to those of adults,” said Dr. David Goff, section chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences at the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. “Because symptoms may vary from child to child or occur in different patterns, without adequate characterization of symptoms across the lifespan, it is difficult to know how to optimize care for affected children and adolescents.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists 20 different ailments as common symptoms of Long COVID. Symptoms range from persistent cough and fever, symptoms common in primary COVID-19 infections, to neurological and cardiovascular symptoms.

Many people with Long COVID complain of persistent fatigue, drowsiness and difficulty concentrating.

According to the CDC, women, Hispanics and Latinos, people who have had a more severe course of COVID-19, people with underlying medical conditions, adults over 65, and people who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine are most at risk for long COVID.

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The study found that there is more overlap in long-Covid symptoms among adults and adolescents, but younger children tend to have different symptoms.

Researchers want to better understand the reasons for this.

“The symptoms that make up the research index are not the only symptoms a child can have, and they are not the most severe, but they are the most informative in determining who may have Long COVID,” Dr. Rachel Gross, associate professor in the departments of pediatrics and population health at New York University Grossman School of Medicine, said in a statement.

The researchers also want to investigate whether children under the age of five develop Long COVID.