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Children and adolescents with COVID-19 were significantly more likely to develop rare but potentially serious conditions, including blood clots in their lung or veins, heart issues, kidney failure or type 1 diabetes compared to their peers without COVID, according to a new study.
“COVID-19 prevention strategies are critical to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent illness, including post-COVID symptoms and conditions,” researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wrote in a new study published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The team analyzed medical claim data on nearly 800,000 children under 18 years with COVID-19 and used demographics to match them to children without COVID. Patients were followed for 60-365 days. To compare how often certain conditions and symptoms occurred, they used hazard ratios in which a ratio of one indicates no difference between the groups.
The data showed the conditions with the highest hazard ratios were
- acute pulmonary embolism (2.01),
- myocarditis and cardiomyopathy (1.99),
- venous thromboembolic event (1.87),
- acute and unspecified renal failure (1.32) and
- type 1 diabetes (1.23).
Authors noted these conditions were rare or uncommon. The COVID group also was more likely to have smell and taste disturbances, circulatory symptoms, malaise/fatigue and musculoskeletal pain.
The group without COVID was more likely to have respiratory symptoms, symptoms of mental conditions, muscle disorders, neurological conditions, anxiety/fear-related disorders, mood disorders and sleeping disorders. Authors said these children, who were pulled from a cohort with a health care visit, may have been unhealthier at baseline.
This difference in health care status at baseline was a potential limitation of the study along with potential misclassification of conditions or COVID status, no adjustment for receipt of a COVID vaccine and high enrollment from Medicaid managed care patients.
In a separate study in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, eight pediatric hospitals responding to a survey found increased rates of intracranial bacterial infections during the pandemic. The CDC said it is looking into whether there is an actual increase and what might be causing it.
Resources
- Information from the CDC on post-COVID conditions
- CDC clinical considerations for administering COVID-19 vaccines
- Information from the CDC on COVID-19 vaccination of children and teens
- AAP COVID vaccination resources
- AAP pediatric COVID-19 vaccine dosing quick reference guide
- AAP/Health and Human Services COVID vaccine toolkit
- Information from HealthyChildren.org on preparing children for a COVID-19 vaccine
