RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Post-COVID-19 condition at 6 months and COVID-19 vaccination in non-hospitalised children and young people
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 289
OP 295
DO 10.1136/archdischild-2022-324656
VO 108
IS 4
A1 Pinto Pereira, Snehal M
A1 Nugawela, Manjula D
A1 Rojas, Natalia K
A1 Shafran, Roz
A1 McOwat, Kelsey
A1 Simmons, Ruth
A1 Ford, Tamsin
A1 Heyman, Isobel
A1 Ladhani, Shamez N
A1 Cheung, Emily Y
A1 Fox-Smith, Lana
A1 Dalrymple, Emma
A1 Stephenson, Terence
YR 2023
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/108/4/289.abstract
AB Objectives To describe the physical and mental health of children and young people (CYP) 6 months after infection with SARS-CoV-2 and explore whether this varies by COVID-19 vaccination.Design A non-hospitalised, national cohort of people aged 11–17 years old with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and PCR negatives matched at study invitation, by age, sex, region and date of testing who completed questionnaires 6 months after PCR testing. The questionnaire included 21 symptoms and standardised scales (eg, EQ-5D-Y and Chalder Fatigue Scale).Results 6407 test-positive and 6542 test-negative CYP completed the 6-month questionnaire: 60.9% of test-positive vs 43.2% of test-negative CYP reported at least one symptom 6 months post-test; 27.6% of test-positive vs 15.9% of test-negative CYP reported 3+ symptoms. Common symptoms at 6 months were tiredness and shortness of breath among both test-positive and test-negative CYP; however, the prevalence of both was higher in test-positive (38.4% and 22.8%, respectively) compared with test-negative CYP (26.7% and 10.9%, respectively). 24.5% test-positive vs 17.8% test-negative CYP met the Delphi research definition of long COVID. Mental health, well-being, fatigue and health-related quality of life scores were similar among test-positive and test-negative CYP 6 months post-test. Similarly, symptomatology was similar among COVID-19-vaccinated and COVID-19-unvaccinated test-positive and test-negative CYP.Conclusions Six-months post-PCR testing, CYP who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 had similar symptoms to those who tested negative, but test-positive CYP had higher symptom prevalence. Mental health, well-being, fatigue and health-related quality of life were similar among test-positive and test-negative CYP, and symptoms at 6 months were similar in COVID-19 vaccinated and unvaccinated.Trial registration number ISRCTN 34804192.