An English study found that COVID affects up to 1 in 7 children months after infection

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LONDON, Sept. 1 (Reuters) – Up to 1 in 7 children may experience coronavirus-related symptoms months after testing positive for COVID-19, the authors of an English study on long-term COVID in adolescents said on Wednesday.

Children rarely get seriously ill with COVID-19, but may experience persistent symptoms and the study is one of the largest of its kind on the frequency of so-called long COVID in the age group.

The study, led by University College London and Public Health England, found that young people aged 11 to 17 who tested positive for the virus were twice as likely to have three or more symptoms 15 weeks later than those which they had given negative.

The researchers surveyed 3,065 young people aged 11 to 17 in England who had positive results in a PCR test between January and March and a control group of 3,739 young people aged 11 to 17 who tested negative during the same period.

Among those who tested positive, 14% reported three or more symptoms such as unusual tiredness or headaches 15 weeks later, compared with 7% who reported symptoms at that time among the control group.

The researchers said that while the results suggested that up to 32,000 adolescents may have had multiple COVID-19-related symptoms after 15 weeks, the prevalence of long-term COVID in the age group was lower than which some feared last year.

“Overall, it’s better than people would have guessed in December,” Professor Terence Stephenson of UCL’s Great Ormond Street Child Health Institute told reporters.

The results were a prepress that had not been peer-reviewed. The authors said any decision to extend vaccination to 12- to 15-year-olds in Britain is unlikely to be based on this study, as there is insufficient data on whether vaccination protects against long-term COVID.

“We are getting growing evidence on the safety of the vaccine in children aged 12 to 15 and it is more likely to be taken into account,” Liz Whittaker, a pediatrician at Imperial College London, told reporters.

Alistair Smout Reports; Edited by Hugh Lawson

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