Illness duration and symptom profile in symptomatic UK school-aged children tested for SARS-CoV-2
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00198-X/fulltext
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58071898
Background
Infection is usually asymptomatic or causes a mild illness of short duration
Persistent illness has been reported
To determine illness duration and characteristics in symptomatic UK school-aged children
COVID Symptom Study
Methods
Prospective cohort study
Aged children 5–17 years
Reported by an adult proxy
Illness duration and symptom prevalence, for children testing positive
Data from symptomatic children testing negative for SARS-CoV-2, matched 1:1 for age, gender, and week of testing, were also assessed
Findings, Children aged 5–17
March 24, 2020 to Feb 22, 2021
N = 258,790
Valid test result, n = 75,529 had valid test results for SARS-CoV-2.
Positive test result, n = 1,734 children
(588 younger and 1,146 older children)
And had a calculable illness duration
The most common symptoms
Headache 1,079 (62·2%) of 1734 children
Fatigue 954 (55·0%) of 1734 children)
Median illness duration
Children testing positive, 6 days
Children testing negative, 3 days
Illness duration associated with age
(Spearman’s rank-order rs 0·19, p less than 0·0001)
Median illness duration was longer for older children
Older children, 12 to 17 years, 7 days
Younger children, 5 to 11 years, 5 days
Illness duration of at least 28 days
77 (4·4%) of 1,734 children
59 (5·1%) of 1,146 older children
18 (3·1%) of 588 younger children
(p=0·046)
After day 28, median 2 symptoms
First week of illness, median 6 symptoms
Commonest symptoms, first 4 weeks of illness
Fatigue 65 (84·4%) of 77
Headache 60 (77·9%) of 77
Anosmia 60 (77·9%) of 77
Symptoms for at least 56
25 (1·8%) of 1379 children
Interpretation
COVID-19 in children is usually of short duration with low symptom burden
Some children with COVID-19 experience prolonged illness duration
Symptom burden did not increase with time
Most recovered by day 56
Source