SIB# 463- COVID and Kids

The Study: Illness duration and symptom profile in symptomatic UK school-aged children tested for SARS-CoV-2. 

Overview: This is a prospective cohort study using data from school age children in the U.K. 

Key Points: 

·         This study looked at data from 258,790 children between the ages of 5 and 17 years who had been tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection between 3-24-20 and 2-22-21. 

·         Out of this large group, 75,529 (29.18%) had a positive test result but only 1734 of these had a ‘calculable illness duration” which met the parameters of the study. 

·         These children were compared to matched controls in the group of children who had tested negative for SARS CoV-2 even though they had presented with similar symptoms. 

·         These 1734 children were divided into two groups: 1) Ages 5-11 years and 2) ages 12-17 years. 

·        The most common symptoms were fatigue, headache and anosmia. 

·         The median duration of illness was 5 days for the younger group and 7 days for the older children. 

·         Only 25 (1.8%) of children in the positive test cohort experienced any symptoms for at least 56 days.  

·         By contrast 15 children (0.9%) of children in the “ negatively tested cohort  had symptoms for 28 days however, these children experienced a greater symptom burden throughout their illness.”

Author’s Conclusions: Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in UK children aged 5–17 years is usually short lived. Symptoms are generally mild. Although prolonged illness can occur, it is rare. Even in these younger subjects, age does seem to correlate with illness duration which is “consistent with our previous findings in adults.”  

Reviewer's Comments: Two things jumped out at me: 1) there were no fatalities reported and 2) although the study has just been published, this data was all collected before the outbreak of the Delta variant which appears to be more contagious in all age groups including children and may well result in different findings. Most of us understand this tends to be a mild disease in children but sometimes it’s just reassuring to see some science on the good news!  

Reviewer:  Mark R. Payne DC

Reference: Erika Molteni, Carole H Sudre, Liane S Canas, et al. Illness duration and symptom profile in symptomatic UK school-aged children tested for SARS-CoV-2. Lancet. Aug 3, 2021 Published Online. Currently in press. 

Link to Full Text: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00198-X/fulltext