Children who fall ill with the coronavirus rarely experience long-lasting symptoms, with most recovering in less than a week, a study suggests.
Researchers at King’s College London say that while a small group of children may experience long-term illness, they are “confident” that this number is small.
The most common Covid-19 symptoms were headache and fatigue.
An expert at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health said the findings reflect what doctors see in clinics.
Children who fall ill with the coronavirus rarely experience long-lasting symptoms, with most recovering in less than a week, the study found.
Researchers at King’s College London say that while a small group of children may experience long-term illness, they are “confident” that the number is small.
The most common symptoms were headache and fatigue.
An expert at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health said the findings reflect what doctors see in clinics.
Compared with adults, children are much less likely to be infected with the coronavirus.
Many who are infected show no symptoms, and those who do get infected have mild disease.
This peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, sought to understand how Covid affects children and how it compares with other respiratory diseases.
It used data provided by parents or caregivers in the UK Zoe Covid Study app.
The study included 1,734 children between the ages of five and 17 who reportedly developed symptoms and tested positive for Covid between September 2020 and February 2021.
Researchers say it is very difficult to determine how many children were infected during that time period because the four U.K. countries record data differently, but they estimate that more than 400,000 children and adolescents tested positive.
Less than one in 20 (4%) children experienced symptoms for four weeks or more, and one in 50 (2%) experienced symptoms for more than eight weeks.
The most common symptoms were headache and fatigue. Other symptoms included sore throat and loss of smell.
On average, older children took slightly longer to get sick than elementary school children: children ages 12 to 17 took a week to recover, while younger children took five days to get sick.
Researchers hope these results will reassure families and support those who have survived a long illness.
Listening to families
The team also tested the same number of children who had symptoms but tested negative for Covid.
Only a few children — 15 of the 1,734 — had symptoms for at least 28 days, that is, less than one in 100.
Emma Duncan, professor of clinical endocrinology at King’s College London, who worked on the study, said the “conclusion from the study” was as follows: “Can children have lingering illness after Covid-19? Yes, they can, but it’s not common, and most such children get better with time.”
“Children can have lingering symptoms of other diseases as well. We have to monitor all children with lingering illnesses, whether it is Covid-19 or some other disease.”
Dr. Michael Absud, consultant in pediatric neurology at London’s Evelyn Children’s Hospital and senior author of the study, says it’s important to listen to families who say their children have symptoms.
“If you’re worried about your child, the first thing you need to do is go to your therapist and describe the specific symptoms,” he explains.
“They can provide information or refer you to your pediatrician. It’s important to remember that there may be something else going on.
“If they think it’s related to Covid, there are NHS clinics where you can get advice on how to approach it. Hopefully they will be properly funded to support that small fraction of kids.”
Dr. Liz Whittaker, a leading infectious disease specialist at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, who was not involved in the study, said: “This study is encouraging for most children and adolescents who develop Sars-CoV-2 infection and reflects what pediatricians are seeing in clinical practice.”
