Persistent symptoms and decreased health-related quality of life after symptomatic pediatric COVID-19: A prospective study in a Latin American tertiary hospital
Clinics
; 76: e3511, 2021. tab
Article
in En
| LILACS
| ID: biblio-1350613
Responsible library:
BR1.1
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
To prospectively evaluate demographic, anthropometric and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in pediatric patients with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)METHODS:
This was a longitudinal observational study of surviving pediatric post-COVID-19 patients (n=53) and pediatric subjects without laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 included as controls (n=52) was performed.RESULTS:
The median duration between COVID-19 diagnosis (n=53) and follow-up was 4.4 months (0.8-10.7). Twenty-three of 53 (43%) patients reported at least one persistent symptom at the longitudinal follow-up visit and 12/53 (23%) had long COVID-19, with at least one symptom lasting for >12 weeks. The most frequently reported symptoms at the longitudinal follow-up visit were headache (19%), severe recurrent headache (9%), tiredness (9%), dyspnea (8%), and concentration difficulty (4%). At the longitudinal follow-up visit, the frequencies of anemia (11% versus 0%, p=0.030), lymphopenia (42% versus 18%, p=0.020), C-reactive protein level of >30 mg/L (35% versus 0%, p=0.0001), and D-dimer level of >1000 ng/mL (43% versus 6%, p=0.0004) significantly reduced compared with baseline values. Chest X-ray abnormalities (11% versus 2%, p=0.178) and cardiac alterations on echocardiogram (33% versus 22%, p=0.462) were similar at both visits. Comparison of characteristic data between patients with COVID-19 at the longitudinal follow-up visit and controls showed similar age (p=0.962), proportion of male sex (p=0.907), ethnicity (p=0.566), family minimum monthly wage (p=0.664), body mass index (p=0.601), and pediatric pre-existing chronic conditions (p=1.000). The Pediatric Quality of Live Inventory 4.0 scores, median physical score (69 [0-100] versus 81 [34-100], p=0.012), and school score (60 [15-100] versus 70 [15-95], p=0.028) were significantly lower in pediatric patients with COVID-19 at the longitudinal follow-up visit than in controls.CONCLUSIONS:
Pediatric patients with COVID-19 showed a longitudinal impact on HRQoL parameters, particularly in physical/school domains, reinforcing the need for a prospective multidisciplinary approach for these patients. These data highlight the importance of closer monitoring of children and adolescents by the clinical team after COVID-19.Key words
Full text:
1
Index:
LILACS
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
Clinics
Journal subject:
MEDICINA
Year:
2021
Type:
Article