Infants, toddlers and preschoolers exhibit symptoms of long COVID, but the symptoms can be different and more difficult to identify in these children, according to Rutgers Health research. The new study is part of the National Institutes of Health–funded Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics.
Lawrence Kleinman, a professor and vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a professor of global public health at Rutgers School of Public Health, is the lead investigator for the Collaborative Long-term study of Outcomes of COVID-19 in Kids (CLOCK), a national consortium led by Rutgers.
“The COVID pandemic began with a myth – that children are spared its ill effects. In contrast, many children were sick with COVID, and we now have a new chronic illness emerging,” Kleinman said. “We are working hard to characterize long COVID in children and it will be critical for policymakers to assure that we have adequate resources to support and manage these children now and in the future.”
Of the total 1,011 children included in the study, 472 were infants and toddlers (children 2 years old or younger) and 539 were preschoolers (children 3 to 5 years old). Overall, 101 (15%) of the 677 children with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were identified as likely having long COVID. The symptoms of long COVID in these age groups differ from those reported among school age children and teens. Infants and toddlers with long COVID were more likely to experience difficulty sleeping, fussiness, poor appetite, stuffy nose and coughing while preschoolers were more likely to experience coughing and daytime tiredness and low energy. To read the full story.