SARS-CoV-2 and post-COVID-19 syndrome in paediatric rheumatology: A scoping review

An increasing number of musculoskeletal clinical manifestations, the onset of diseases and rheumatological manifestations have been seen in the paediatric population surviving COVID-19, however, the medical literature on the subject is limited.

The objective is to explore the available evidence on musculoskeletal symptoms and autoimmune diseases in the paediatric population with post-COVID syndrome.

Scoping systematic review in PubMed and Scopus through search strategies. Observational and experimental studies are included in populations under 21 years of age with and without autoimmune diseases, without time limit in English and Spanish.

The 28 documents included: case reports (n = 6), cross-sectional studies (n = 5), prospective cohort studies (n = 5), retrospective cohort (n = 6), case series (n = 6), ambidirectional section (n = 1), randomized controlled trial (n = 1), and longitudinal section study (n = 1). The total study population was 56,738 patients. The most frequent symptoms presented in long COVID-19 are myalgias and arthralgias. The evidence showing a relationship between SARS-CoV-2 infection in the development of musculoskeletal symptoms and autoimmune diseases in the convalescent period is limited.

As a conclusion, myalgias and arthralgias are the most frequent symptoms in long COVID. Patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and a history of rheumatic disease who are undergoing immunomodulatory treatment do not have a dangerous risk of developing severe presentations and/or complications of the disease.