Long COVID looks different in children and teens. Do you know the key symptoms?
Long COVID could be impacting over 20% of children — with children of color disproportionately affected.
As we continue to learn more about COVID-19 and how it manifests, it’s becoming clearer how the viral infection impacts people differently based on age during and long after.
Children aren’t just more vulnerable; certain versions of the infection, like long-haul COVID — when symptoms of COVID-19 linger for up to three months or longer after infection — also present differently in children and adolescents than in other age groups.
According to a study published Wednesday in JAMA, symptoms of long COVID differ based on age, especially in children.
To conduct the study, researchers surveyed the parents and guardians of over 5,000 U.S.-based children, some with a history of COVID-19 and others without, about any lingering health issues their kids developed during the height of the pandemic. They examined the data they received to determine which symptoms were linked to COVID-19 infections.
Among children ages 6 to 11, the researchers identified 10 symptoms associated with long COVID: trouble with memory and focus, back or neck pain, stomach pain, headaches, itchy skin or rash, trouble sleeping, nausea or vomiting, lightheadedness or dizziness, phobias, and even refusing to go to school. That last one, the researchers noted, could also be related to something else entirely or an emotional response to anxiety associated with lockdowns.
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Researchers were able to isolate eight symptoms in adolescents aged 12 to 17: change or loss of smell or taste, body, muscle, or joint pain, daytime sleepiness or low energy, fatigue after walking, back or neck pain, trouble with memory or focus, headaches, lightheadedness, or dizziness.
However, identifying these symptoms alone isn’t enough to officially diagnose long COVID in children. Researchers told Time magazine that more research is needed to confirm the findings. However, for the purposes of the study, the researchers used those symptoms to estimate which children likely had long COVID.
They surmise that roughly 20% of younger children and 14% of adolescents who had COVID-19 now have long COVID. Kids infected before the Omicron wave were especially likely to fall into the long COVID category.
Even if physicians accurately diagnose cases of long-haul COVID-19 in children, there’s still no guarantee they would receive adequate care. Presently, there is no known test or treatment for long COVID.
While COVID-19 isn’t a virus that discriminates, having significantly impacted even some of the world’s healthiest adults, it’s also true that people of color experience infections at disproportionate rates. This means children of color could be living with long COVID at similarly disproportionate rates.
Researchers hope this study will help parents, guardians, and physicians better recognize COVID-19’s lasting impact.
“This is a public health crisis for children,” lead study author Dr. Rachel Gross told NBC News. “Experiences of chronic illness affect them as they grow, and it impacts the health of the adults that they become.”
