Long-Term COVID 19 Sequelae in Adolescents: the Overlap with Orthostatic Intolerance and ME/CFS.

Purpose of Review: To discuss emerging understandings of adolescent long COVID or post-COVID-19 conditions, including proposed clinical definitions, common symptoms, epidemiology, overlaps with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and orthostatic intolerance, and preliminary guidance on management. Recent Findings: The recent World Health Organization clinical case definition of post-COVID-19 condition requires a history of probable or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, with symptoms starting within 3 months of the onset of COVID-19. Symptoms must last for at least 2 months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Common symptoms of the post-COVID-19 condition include, but are not limited to, fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive dysfunction. These symptoms generally have an impact on everyday functioning. The incidence of prolonged symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection has proven challenging to define, but it is now clear that those with relatively mild initial infections, without severe initial respiratory disease or end-organ injury, can still develop chronic impairments, with symptoms that overlap with conditions like ME/CFS (profound fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, post-exertional malaise, cognitive dysfunction, and orthostatic intolerance). Summary: We do not yet have a clear understanding of the mechanisms by which individuals develop post-COVID-19 conditions. There may be several distinct types of long COVID that require different treatments. At this point, there is no single pharmacologic agent to effectively treat all symptoms. Because some presentations of post-COVID-19 conditions mimic disorders such as ME/CFS, treatment guidelines for this and related conditions can be helpful for managing post-COVID-19 symptoms. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40124-022-00261-4.

Screening for Orthostatic Intolerance in Symptomatic Children Presenting for Concussion Care.

Following concussion, children often experience nonspecific symptoms that overlap with those of other common pediatric conditions, including orthostatic intolerance (OI). The primary goal of this study was to evaluate OI in youth presenting for clinical care for concussion and reporting symptoms frequently observed in OI. Eighty-two of 114 patients aged 10 to 22 years endorsed symptoms based on 8 screening questions, and 24 of those 82 patients met criteria for OI based on an active standing test. No screening question generated clinically useful likelihood ratios for predicting OI. The prevalence of OI in this cohort is considerably higher than estimates in the general pediatric population, suggesting a link between concussion and OI. Future work is needed to evaluate the best method of testing for OI, the natural history of OI symptoms in youth with concussion, and the response to intervention in children with both concussion and OI.

Effects of drugs on bone metabolism in a cohort of individuals with traumatic spinal cord injury.

Study Design: This study is a retrospective review examining the prevalence of drugs commonly used in the management of spinal cord injury (SCI) which may influence bone health. Objective: The aim of our study was to examine the role commonly prescribed medications play in post-SCI bone health. Setting: We included all males 21 years of age and older who were evaluated over a 10-year period at an SCI-specialized center for a trauma-induced SCI. Method: We compared characteristics of individuals with normal bone mass to those with low bone mass according to their dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan. Medication lists were reviewed for the presence of drugs considered to either positively or negatively affect bone metabolism. Results: Comparing individuals with normal bone mass (n = 68) to those with low bone mass (n = 211), only "Time after Injury" and "Level of Injury" were found to influence the likelihood of having low bone mass. Multivariate analysis failed to demonstrate significant associations between bone mass and the sum of drugs which either positively or negatively affect bone metabolism. When medications were reviewed individually, only bisphosphonates and anticonvulsants were found to be significantly associated with bone mass. Conclusions: Although 76% of our cohort was found to have low bone mass, the only major risk factors were "Time after Injury" and "Level of Injury". Anticonvulsant use was more common in individuals with low bone mass compared to those with normal bone mass. Given the retrospective methodology of this work, our findings underline associations that warrant further investigation.