Long Covid-19 symptoms rarely last more than 12 weeks in children, study finds

A new study by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute gives more insight into the impact of Covid-19 on children and teenagers.

Long Covid-19 symptoms rarely last more than 12 weeks in children and teens, with the most common ailments being headache, fatigue, sleep disturbance, concentration difficulties and abdominal pain, a major study has found.

The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) reviewed 14 international studies involving nearly 20,000 children to help guide policy about vaccinating children against Covid-19.

It found most of the studies were not robust and more research was needed.

Children aged over 12 are able to get a Covid-19 vaccine but although clinical trials in younger children are underway there is no vaccine yet approved in Australia, the US and Europe for those under 12.

China is vaccinating some children from the age of three with its Sinovac jab – the same vaccine being used on children aged over six in Chile.

There are fears unprotected Australian kids may be exposed to long Covid if schools re-open in states affected by the Delta outbreak and this is why the institute reviewed the issue.

There are fears unprotected Australian kids may be exposed to long Covid if schools re-open. Picture NCA NewsWire Sarah Marshall

Head of Infectious Diseases at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital Professor Nigel Curtis said it was reassuring that there was little evidence that symptoms persisted longer than 12 weeks.

This suggested long Covid might be less of a concern in children and adolescents than in adults, he said.

“The low risk posed by acute disease means that one of the key benefits of Covid vaccination of children and adolescents might be to protect them from long Covid,” Professor Curtis said.

“An accurate determination of the risk of long Covid in this age group is therefore crucial in the debate about the risks and benefits of vaccination”.

However, MCRI Covid-19 Governance Group Co-Chair Professor Andrew Steer said “we also need to understand whether co-infection with other respiratory viruses, such as RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) or influenza, increases disease severity in young people”.

The review, published in the Paediatric Infectious Disease Journal, found more than 200 symptoms have been attributed to long Covid.

Many of these were non-specific and highly prevalent in the general population, such as fatigue, sleep disturbance, concentration difficulties, loss of appetite, and muscle or joint pain.

And it said the multiple studies of the condition in children were not strong because they lacked control groups, used self-reporting of symptoms and covered a range of different time periods.

The report said one study did find a difference between children infected with Covid-19 and those without the infection who still had symptoms at four weeks after catching the virus.

The study reported that by eight weeks, most symptoms had resolved, “suggesting long Covid might be less of a concern in children and adolescents than in adults”.

“Interestingly in one study, more than half of adolescents in the uninfected control group reported symptoms at 12 weeks despite only eight per cent reporting symptoms at the time of testing for SARS-CoV-2,” the report said.

The MCRI reported earlier this week the Delta variant of Covid generally produced only asymptomatic or only a mild illness in children.

But the study found children and adolescents with pre-existing health conditions including obesity, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and immune disorders have a 25-fold greater risk of severe Covid-19.

To date only 70 Australian children with Covid (2.4 per cent) have been admitted to hospital and just five (0.2 per cent) were admitted to intensive care.

There have been no deaths in children aged less than 10 years, and one death in an adolescent.

Originally published as Long Covid-19 symptoms rarely last more than 12 weeks in children, study finds