Long/post-COVID in children and adolescents: symptom onset and recovery after one year based on healthcare records in Germany

Purpose

Evidence on the incidence and persistence of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) among children and adolescents is still limited.

Methods

In this retrospective cohort study, 59,339 children and adolescents with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in 2020 and 170,940 matched controls were followed until 2021-09-30 using German routine healthcare data. Incidence rate differences (ΔIR) and ratios (IRR) of 96 potential PASC were estimated using Poisson regression. Analyses were stratified according to age (0–11, 12–17 years), and sex. At the individual level, persistence of diagnoses in patients with onset symptoms was tracked starting from the first quarter post-infection.

Results

At 0–3 month follow-up, children and adolescents with a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection showed a 34% increased risk of adverse health outcome, and approximately 6% suffered from PASC in association with COVID-19. The attributable risk was higher among adolescents (≥ 12 years) than among children. For most common symptoms, IRRs largely persisted at 9–12 month follow-up. IRR were highest for rare conditions strongly associated with COVID-19, particularly inflammatory conditions among children 0–11 years, and chronic fatigue and respiratory insufficiency among adolescents. Tracking of diagnoses at the individual level revealed similar rates in the decline of symptoms among COVID-19 and control cohorts, generally leaving less than 10% of the patients with persistent diagnoses after 12 months.

Conclusion

Although very few patients presented symptoms for longer than 12 months, excess morbidity among children and, particularly, adolescents with a history of COVID-19 means a relevant burden for pediatric care.