Although children and adolescents tend to suffer less severe symptoms from Covid-19 infection than adults, to date there is only preliminary evidence about long-term effects of Covid-19 on pulmonary function
Anne Schlegtendal
The second study, presented by Dr Anne Schlegtendal, a specialist in paediatric and adolescent medicine and paediatric pulmonology at University Children’s Hospital, Ruhr-University-Bochum, Germany, looked at the long-term effects of Covid-19 infection between August 2020 and March 21 in 73 children and adolescents aged between five and 18 years. Dr Schlegtendal said: “Although children and adolescents tend to suffer less severe symptoms from Covid-19 infection than adults, to date there is only preliminary evidence about long-term effects of Covid-19 on pulmonary function in children and adolescents. It’s important to evaluate this given the fact that children worldwide will potentially get infected with SARS-CoV-2 as long as vaccines are predominantly reserved for adults and high-risk groups.”
She and her colleagues carried out lung function tests between two weeks and six months following Covid-19 infection and compared the results with a control group of 45 children who had not been infected with the coronavirus but may have had some other infection. The participants had different severity of disease. An infection was considered severe if patients suffered breathlessness, a fever above 38.5 degrees Celsius for more than five days, bronchitis, pneumonia or was stayed in hospital for more than a day. Nineteen children and adolescents in the Covid-19 group had persistent or new symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection; eight reported at least one respiratory symptom, six of whom suffered ongoing breathing problems and two had a persistent cough. Two of these eight patients showed abnormal lung function. “When we compared the Covid-19 patients with the control group, we found no statistically significant differences in the frequency of abnormal lung function. They occurred in 16% of the Covid-19 group and 28% of the control group. However, further analysis revealed a reduction in the volume of air in the lungs that can be exhaled after a deep breath – forced vital capacity – in patients who had suffered a severe infection, whether Covid-10 or some other infection,” said Dr Schlegtendal. “These findings should offer some reassurance to children, adolescents and their families. Severity of infection proved to be the only predictor for mild lung function changes and this is independent of a Covid-19 infection. The discrepancy between persistent breathing problems and normal lung function suggests there may be a different underlying cause, such as dysfunctional breathing, which is a problem that has also been identified in adults.”
Limitations of the study include the small number of participants, the fact that they were recruited at a single hospital, that patients reported their symptoms, and a lack of information on long-term outcomes in the control group. In addition, the Covid-19 group did not include those with severe breathing problems during the acute phase of the infection.
Anita Simonds, who was not involved in the research, is President of the European Respiratory Society, Honorary Consultant in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital & Professor of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine at NHLI, Imperial College London, UK. She said: “The findings from these two studies provide important reassurance about the impact of Covid infection on lung function in children and young adults. We know already that this group is less likely to suffer severe illness if they contract the virus, and these studies, which importantly include comparator groups without Covid-19, show that they are also less likely to suffer long-term consequences with respect to lung function. However, further research may shed more light on the effects for people with asthma or who suffer a severe respiratory infection, whether it’s Covid-19 or due to another infective cause. These individuals may be more vulnerable to long-term effects on lung function and underlines the importance for every eligible person to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to reduce overall spread of disease.”
Source: European Respiratory Society
Source: Healthcare in Europe
