Paediatric long COVID lacks definitions

An international collaboration has formed the first study to describe the organisation of paediatric long-COVID care. Although paediatric long COVID is recognised worldwide as a multisystemic disease, definitions and care programmes vary between cohorts. A clear definition of paediatric long-COVID is needed to improve international scientific collaboration and patient care.

The lack of scientific guidance in treating children with paediatric post-COVID condition (PPCC) has been problematic. Ms Nadia Baalbaki (Emma Children’s Hospital, the Netherlands) presented IP4C, an international collaboration of researchers, patient representatives, and physicians [1]. This study aimed to assess the currently available paediatric, international, long-COVID care programmes and compare the characteristics of their patient cohorts. A cross-sectional analysis from aggregated data collected by a survey explored topics such as the used definition for paediatric long COVID, the organisation of paediatric long-COVID clinics, and PPCC patients’ characteristics.

The study analysed aggregated data from long-COVID patients (n=431) from 17 cohorts in 13 different countries. The mean age of patients ranged from 6.5–16.4 years. Most patients (>90%) had asymptomatic or mild acute COVID-19. Frequent long-COVID symptoms were fatigue, headaches, concentration difficulties, dyspnoea, and sleep disturbances. At least two-thirds of patients were symptomatic for more than 12 weeks (66.6–100%), and 5–37% of patients had severe limitations in daily life. Definitions for long-COVID varied primarily in duration of symptoms and the necessity of microbiologically-proven SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Most long-COVID care programmes consisted of real-life visits with multidisciplinary teams, including general paediatricians, paediatric lung specialists, cardiologists, infectiologists, physiotherapists, and psychologists. Medical investigations revealed substantial disparities in care between the programmes (e.g. spirometry performed in 0–100% of patients).

1. Brackel C, et al. Uniting Global Efforts on Pediatric Long-COVID: Results of the International Post-COVID Condition in Children Collaboration (IP4C). Poster 601, ATS International Conference 2022, San Francisco, CA, USA, 13–18 May.

 

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Posted on 18 July 2022