Over a thousand children and adolescents monitored, the severity of the effects of the virus studied
17% of Italian children and adolescents who have had a Covid-19 infection manifests long Covid symptoms three months later, among which the most common are nasal congestion, headache and fatigue, while the most persistent over time seems to be insomnia. The data emerge from the first prospective study on long Covid conducted on Italian children and adolescents, coordinated by the University hospital of Parma, whose preliminary results are illustrated in 77th Congress of the Italian Society of Pediatriciansin progress in Sorrento.
The study, which began in November 2021 and will end in March 2026, is being conducted on 14 centers on the national territory, it has enlisted up to now about 1,000 children and adolescents with a previous Sars-CoV-2 infection of varying severity. “Identifying the potential long-term consequences of long Covid and the relationship with acute infection is important for the management and rehabilitation of patients. The inclusion criteria of this study are very stringent as they plan to enroll a large longitudinal number of subjects who had a recent diagnosis of Sars-CoV-2 infection, proposing research in the participating Centers to all those who tested positive for molecular swab in a specific time interval “, says the study coordinator, Susanna Espositofull professor of Pediatrics and director of the pediatric clinic of the University of Parma, head of the technical table of infectious diseases and vaccinations of the Italian Society of Pediatrics.
Of the 670 patients diagnosed with Covid-19 who participated in the study and for which the first data are available (51.5% male and 48.5% female) 31% had a previous disease, only 1.8% needed hospitalization, in 15% of cases the infection was asymptomatic. Three months after the infection, 118 children (equal to 17.6% of the sample) show at least one symptom of long Covid, among these 110 children (16.4%) show at least 2 symptoms, 84 children (12%) at least 3 symptoms.
But what are the more frequent manifestations of long Covid in the population surveyed by the study? Nasal congestion (17%), headache (15%), fatigue (13%), poor appetite (10%), insomnia (9%), persistent cough (8%), abdominal pain (6%), confusion and loss of concentration (5.2%) ed rash (4.9%). Among children who feel fatigued (equal to 13% of the sample) about 1 in 4 feel the need to rest more than usual, 19% feel more sleepy, 11% have less energy than usual.
Some symptoms such as nasal congestion, poor appetite, rash tend to occur, in the vast majority of cases, in a mild way. But symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, loss of concentration, and headaches often come with one most important symptomatology. In particular, they complain of moderate to severe forms of fatigue and lack of concentration on the 43% of children struggling with these ailments. As for the duration of symptoms, according to the data collected so far, the most persistent are the headache with the 10% of children who suffer from it even 4-6 months after the infection andinsomnia: 3.6% suffer from it after 6 months, 1.8% at 7-9 months and the same percentage of those who suffer from it a year later.
“Long Covid is a concrete problem also in children and adolescents. Our research demonstrates the need for do not underestimate persistent symptoms that can cause enormous discomfort for the little ones with the impairment of their daily life and the importance of a personalized approach based on the symptoms present. These results once again underline the importance of vaccination against Covid even in the smallest ones to avoid distant complications, which can also occur in those who have had an infection that is not particularly serious in the acute phase “, he concludes. Susanna Esposito.
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