Children and teens experience a wide range of symptoms and conditions in the year after contracting COVID-19, even though they appear to be free of mental and respiratory problems, a CDC study reports.
Laboratory-confirmed young adults aged 0-17 are significantly more likely to develop the following diseases within 31-365 days of diagnosis compared to their peers without a diagnosis of COVID-19 Increase:
- Acute pulmonary embolism (adjusted HR 2.01, 95% CI 1.62-2.50)
- myocarditis and cardiomyopathy (adjusted HR 1.99, 95% CI 1.81-2.19)
- venous thromboembolic events (adjusted HR 1.87, 95% CI 1.54-2.26)
- acute and unspecified renal failure (adjusted HR 1.32, 95% CI 1.22-1.43)
- Type 1 diabetes (adjusted HR 1.23, 1.13-1.33)
Also associated with COVID-19 are persistent cardiac arrhythmias, bleeding disorders, smell and taste disturbances, malaise and fatigue.
Nonetheless, Health Economics at CDC Atlanta J. Dr. Lyudmila Kompanyez and colleagues in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report .
Study authors say their finding of elevated diabetes and myocarditis in children months after COVID is consistent with previous evidence, while other observed risks appear to be new in this population.
Of note, respiratory, mental health, nervous system, muscle, psychiatric, and sleep disturbances in COVID patients compared with the general population in this study.
“These associations were observed for multiple reasons, possibly in part because patients without COVID-19 were selected from a cohort of potentially COVID-19-related patients with less health than COVID-19 -19 patients at baseline,” the CDC panel recommends.
The authors used the definition of post-COVID symptoms and conditions as new, recurring, or ongoing health problems that occurred 4 weeks or more after infection with SARS-CoV-2.
The study was conducted using a large medical claims database to assess 9 potential post-COVID signs and symptoms and 15 potential post-COVID conditions in children and adolescents.
From March 2021 to January 2022, data were collected on 781,419 U.S. children and adolescents with COVID-19 who were Peers reporting COVID-19 were matched 1:3. Participants were followed for a minimum of 60 days and a maximum of 365 days.
The mean age of the cohort was 12 years, with equal male to female ratios.
Statistical model adjusted for age, sex, race, U.S. Census Bureau region, payer type, prior medical complexity, and prior hospitalization.
Kompaniyets and colleagues warn that their analysis of post-COVID symptoms and conditions suffers from misclassification bias and does not account for events that began before COVID infection. It is not known whether the reported condition is temporary or chronic.
They acknowledge that there are still some children who may have undocumented COVID-19, adding that the 70% proportion of patients receiving Medicaid-administered care limits the study to all children and adolescents general applicability.
Finally, vaccination status was not adjusted in the study due to underreporting in the hypothetical dataset. Still, the CDC team insists on the importance of vaccinating children and adolescents against COVID-19.
“COVID-19 prevention strategies, including vaccination of all eligible individuals aged ≥ 6 months, are essential to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent disease , and reducing the public health impact of post-COVID symptoms and conditions,” they wrote.
-
James Lopilato is a staff writer for Medpage Today. He covers a variety of topics currently being explored in medical scientific research.
DISCLOSURE
Kompaniyets reports no conflict of interest.
