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Post-COVID-19 condition and persisting symptoms in English schoolchildren: repeated surveys to March 2022

2023; BioMed Central; Volume: 23; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1186/s12879-023-08203-1

1471-2334

Charlotte Warren‐Gash, Andrea Lacey, Sarah Cook, Dylan Stocker, Samantha Toon, Ffion Lelii, Ben Ford, Georgina Ireland, Shamez Ladhani, Terence Stephenson, Patrick Nguipdop‐Djomo, Punam Mangtani, Elliot McClenahan, Gillian McKay, Jody Phelan, Liang-Yu Lin, Alex Lewin, Alison Judd, Byron Davies, Anisah Saib, James McCrae, Joe Kelly, Ian Diamond, Emma Rourke, Fiona Dawe, Peter G. Jones,

Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

Abstract Background Both post-COVID-19 condition (long COVID) and the presence of persisting symptoms that do not meet formal definitions of post-COVID-19-condition may adversely affect quality of life and function. However, their prevalence among children and young people in England is unclear. Methods We used data from repeated surveys in a large cohort of English schoolchildren from the COVID-19 Schools Infection Survey (SIS) for the school year 2021/22 to describe the weighted prevalence of post-COVID-19-condition and compare persisting symptoms between individuals with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test and those with neither a positive test history nor suspected infection. Results Among 7797 children from 173 schools, 1.8% of primary school pupils (aged 4 to 11 years), 4.5% of secondary school pupils in years 7–11 (aged 11 to 16 years) and 6.9% of those in years 12–13 (aged 16 to 18 years) met a definition of post-COVID-19 condition in March 2022. Specific persisting symptoms such as anxiety or difficulty concentrating were frequently reported regardless of prior infection status and increased with age: 48.0% of primary school pupils, 52.9% of secondary school pupils in years 7–11 and 79.5% in years 12–13 reporting at least one symptom lasting more than 12 weeks. Persisting loss of smell and taste, cardiovascular and some systemic symptoms were more frequently reported by those with a previous positive test. Conclusions We showed that ongoing symptoms were frequently reported by English schoolchildren regardless of SARS-CoV-2 test results and some specific symptoms such as loss of smell and taste were more prevalent in those with a positive test history. Our study emphasises the wide-ranging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and wellbeing of children and young people.