Prolonged COVID-19 Duration Is Uncommon, But Possible, in Children

Prolonged illness duration is uncommon, but possible, in school-aged children with COVID-19, according to the results of a recent study.

“In children, SARS-CoV-2 infection is usually asymptomatic or causes a mild illness of short duration. Persistent illness has been reported; however, its prevalence and characteristics are unclear,” the researchers wrote.

In order to further examine illness characteristics in symptomatic school-aged children with COVID-19, the researchers conducted a prospective cohort study involving 258,790 children aged 5 to 17 years, of whom 75,529 had valid COVID-19 test results.

Overall, 1734 children tested positive for COVID-19 and had calculable illness duration. The most common symptoms among these children were headache (1079 [62·2%] children), and fatigue (954 [55·0%] children). The median illness duration was 6 days, and was longer for older children, with 77 of 1734 children experiencing illness duration of at least 28 days. Twenty-five (1.8%) children experienced symptoms for at least 56 days.

“Although COVID-19 in children is usually of short duration with low symptom burden, some children with COVID-19 experience prolonged illness duration. Reassuringly, symptom burden in these children did not increase with time, and most recovered by day 56. Some children who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 also had persistent and burdensome illness. A holistic approach for all children with persistent illness during the pandemic is appropriate,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Molteni E, Sudre CH, Canas LS, et al. Illness duration and symptom profile in symptomatic UK school-aged children tested for SARS-CoV-2. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. Published online August 3, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00198-X