COVID infection in children puts them at a higher risk for THESE serious illnesses

We might have contained the COVID-19 pandemic, but the repercussions haven’t subsided yet. COVID has been harsh on young children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised individuals. Now, a recent study has found that children and adolescents who contracted COVID-19 may face an increased risk of serious long-term health problems.

The study, led by investigators at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, found that long COVID can result in increased risk for a variety of serious health problems for young people. These include a higher risk of kidney, gut, and cardiovascular system illnesses. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

“While most public attention has focused on the acute phase of COVID-19, our findings reveal children face significant long-term health risks that clinicians need to monitor,” senior author Yong Chen, PhD, a professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, said in a statement.

A study published in JAMA Network Open looked at kidney function in 1.9 million patients under 21. The researchers found that young patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 tests had a 17% higher risk of developing early-stage chronic kidney disease and a 35% higher risk of advanced chronic kidney disease (stage 3 or higher). This could occur from one month to two years after infection.

The study suggested that people with pre-existing chronic kidney disease, who had a positive test for COVID, had a 15 percent higher risk of developing any of several other kidney-related adverse outcomes, including a major decline in kidney filtration rate, dialysis, or kidney transplant. Children and adolescents who suffered an acute kidney injury during infection had a 29% higher risk of kidney issues within three to six months compared to those without such injury.

Another study published in JAMA Network Open looked at the gastrointestinal problems such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, and irritable bowel syndrome in 1,576,933 children and adolescents. They found that the children tested positive for COVID had a 25% increased risk of experiencing GI symptoms in the months following infection, and a 28% increased risk of persistent symptoms up to two years post-infection.

A separate study examined post-acute cardiovascular problems in 1,213,322 pediatric patients. The studies also confirmed that the young individuals who were infected had significantly higher risks of developing one or more cardiovascular conditions, including arrhythmias, heart inflammation, chest pain, palpitations, and hypertension, compared to those with negative tests. These risks were elevated regardless of whether the patient had a congenital heart defect (CHD). Also, among children without congenital heart defects, those infected with SARS-CoV-2 had nearly triple the risk of developing heart inflammation compared to their uninfected peers.

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The health effects of COVID infection also differed based on race and ethnicity. They evaluvated the data from 225,723 children and adolescents, comparing AAPIs, non-Hispanic Blacks, and Hispanics, to non-Hispanic Whites. Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) children and adolescents, had slightly higher rates of developing any long-COVID outcomes in the post-acute phase after severe or non-severe COVID, compared to non-Hispanic Whites. The Hispanic patients had a greater risk of hair loss after severe COVID, while non-Hispanic Black patients had a slightly lower risk of long-COVID skin symptoms after severe COVID.

“Overall, these findings underscore the fact that clinicians need to monitor pediatric patients for long COVID signs and symptoms, and need to be prepared to treat these conditions”, Chen said.