new research A team of Canadian researchers has found that children are significantly less likely to suffer from the coronavirus over the long term than adults.
The study, titled “Post-COVID-19 status in children 6 and 12 months post-infection,” was published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open and provides a definition of long-term COVID-19 infection. We investigated the proportion of children presenting with the symptoms that meet the criteria. , also known as the post-COVID-19 condition. Researchers studied a cohort of more than 5,000 Canadian children in pediatric emergency departments and followed up with the children after 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months.
The World Health Organization defines post-COVID-19 in children as occurring within three months after infection with COVID-19, lasting at least two months, and “confirming daily functioning and developmental milestones.” The study states that “abstinence is defined as having symptoms of “limitation”.
At six-month follow-up, six of the 1,152 children who tested positive had symptoms that met the definition of long-term coronavirus, and four of the 3,995 children who tested negative met the definition. Filled. After 12 months, 8 of the 1,192 children with a positive test result and 7 of the 4,371 children with a negative test result met the definition.
The researchers also measured a decline in the children’s quality of life, finding that the overall quality of life of children who tested positive for COVID-19 was significantly greater than that of children who tested negative. I found that there was no difference.
It is unclear how long COVID-19 infections are common among adults infected with SARS-CoV-2, but researchers say estimates in various studies range from 7.5% to 45%. It is said that it is in the range of %.
Comparatively, “few infected children” develop post-COVID-19 symptoms, the researchers noted, and among children in the cohort who tested positive, the definition of long-term coronavirus Only 0.67% met the criteria.
This is in contrast to some previously published studies. Survey conducted in Germany in 2022They found that the prevalence of “moderate or severe” post-COVID-19 symptoms among adolescent girls was 32 percent. However, the Canadian researchers note that their study is the first to use the WHO consensus definition of post-COVID-19 status in children.
The researchers acknowledged that their study had some limitations. Most notably, 30 percent of eligible participants were lost to follow-up, and the children who were followed up were likely infected with the “less transmissible” Omicron variant. That’s what I said. It is associated with long-term coronavirus infection. Additionally, 80 percent of study participants were under the age of eight, meaning the results “may not be very generalizable to older children,” the researchers wrote.
