According to a new analysis, coronavirus does not affect the lung function of young people after infection.
The researchers evaluated data from more than 660 people born between 1994 and 1996.
The young adults, enrolled in a study in Stockholm, were pre-examined in the pandemic between 2016 and 2019 and again between October 2020 and May 2021, including an assessment of lung function. and inflammation.
More than a quarter (27%) of those studied tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies, indicating that they had previously been infected.
The researchers said participants’ lung function was similar regardless of Covid-19 infection.
Ida Mogensen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, said: “When we included 123 participants with asthma in the analysis, the 24% who had Covid-19 tended to have slightly lower lung function, but this was not statistically significant. “
He added that the results are “reassuring for young adults,” but said more analysis of the asthma group needed to be done.
A separate study, conducted by the Ruhr-University-Bochum Children’s University Hospital, Germany, evaluated data from 73 children and adolescents, aged five to 18, between August 2020 and March 2021.
Lung function tests were performed between two weeks and six months after Covid-19 infection and were compared with the results of a control group of 45 children who had not been infected.
The researchers also found no statistically significant differences between the two groups.
Dr Anne Schlegtendal, author of the study, said it was important to assess the long-term effects of Covid-19 infection in children and young people as they remain at risk for infection, but vaccines are “mostly reserved to adults and high-risk groups ”.
Both studies were presented at the European Respiratory Society’s international congress, which was held virtually.