Researchers dispel misunderstandings about children and COVID-19. Four years ago the message was that children were immune to the disease.
Now it is clear that kids can develop Long Covid. The research says so!
New research, 'Characterizing Long Covid in Children and Adolescents' which was published on Aug. 21 in JAMA, reveals that Long Covid symptoms may vary in kids compared to adults, and even among children in different age brackets.
We work very closely with families and caregivers and patient representatives in the pediatric study,” said Gross, an associate professor at New York University Grossman School of Medicine. “We hear from them how challenging it is for families and children experiencing these debilitating symptoms, and that this research can’t come fast enough to really help them.
The research on kids with Long Covid received wide international media coverage.
Most research characterising Long Covid symptoms is focused on adults, which can lead to the misperception that Long Covid in children is rare or that their symptoms are like those of adults
This is one of the largest and first studies to try to characterise the prolonged symptoms that are experienced by children and to try to understand how they may differ between different age groups.
We have convincing evidence that COVID-19 is not just a mild, benign illness for children,” said Lawrence C. Kleinman, “There are children who are clearly disabled by Long Covid for long periods of time.
Why these different symptoms occur between the age groups is unclear, but it could be down to variations in their hormonal and immune systems, says Gross. Alternatively, teenagers may simply be better able to vocalise their symptoms than younger children, says Danilo Buonsenso at the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, Italy.
There is a common misconception that Long Covid in children will manifest similarly to Long Covid in adults. Long Covid Kids have worked tirelessly to address this misconception since 2020. See below an article from January 2021, watch the interview by Hannah Pettifer on BBC News, or track media articles on the NEWS page of our website back to our grassroots in 2020.
Other recent research found that the disempowering portrayal of parents promotes stigma and barriers to care. Further findings showed that healthcare professionals’ narratives often contributed to negative healthcare experiences and enacted testimonial injustice, where children and young people and their parent’s credibility was diminished due to unfair identity prejudice, in their invalidation of Long Covid.
The authors of the paper 'A Critical Analysis of UK Media Characterisations of Long Covid in Children and Young People' propose recommendations for journalists.
Read our blog about it here
New international research published as a preprint today 22nd August 2024 as a preprint: Long COVID Clinical Evaluation, Research and Impact on Society: A Global Expert Consensus
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