As of: February 6, 2024, 10:28 a.m
By: Natalie Hull-Deichsel
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Long Covid or Post Covid is now almost as feared as the corona infection itself. More and more children are showing symptoms such as fatigue.
Once a corona infection has been overcome, very few people affected can return to their everyday lives as usual.
In many cases, even those who have been vaccinated three times and those with a mild course still complain of exhaustion and tiredness days and weeks later.
If the symptoms last longer than four weeks after the corona infection, experts speak of Long Covid, and if the after-effects last longer than twelve weeks after infection, they speak of Post Covid.
Adults seem to be affected more often so far, but the number of children with Long Covid symptoms is increasing, according to doctors.
Consequences of Corona: Long Covid could so far affect around a quarter of the children suffering from Corona
Children also suffer from Long Covid and show symptoms such as headaches, exhaustion, tiredness, palpitations and sleep disorders long after the corona infection.
(Symbolic image) © imagebroker/begsteiger/Imago
Long and post Covid increasingly concerns scientists and doctors as the number of affected adults and children increases.
There are four causes that contribute to people getting Long Covid as a long-term consequence of Corona - it affects women and men differently.
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Children often suffer from PIMS (Pediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome) as a result of a corona infection.
PIMS is a sudden overreaction of the immune system after a corona infection and is manifested by long-lasting fever and severe abdominal pain.
However, a more concrete validation of long-term health effects caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection in children still requires further long-term studies; “the data situation for children and adolescents is still very limited,” according to the
Robert Koch Institute (RKI)
.
In the largest follow-up to date of children and adolescents who were treated in hospital due to a corona infection, around a quarter of the children and adolescents still had at least one (post-)corona symptom several months after discharge.
In a meta-analysis, children after a SARS-CoV-2 infection showed a significantly increased risk of cognitive disorders, headaches, loss of smell, sore throats and sore eyes, according to the
RKI.
Long Covid in children
Similar to adults, children also most often complain of symptoms of great exhaustion, fatigue, combined with tiredness.
Other consequences of a corona infection can include sleep disorders, headaches, coughing, difficulty concentrating, smell and taste disorders, abdominal pain and palpitations, as cardiologist Dr.
med.
Daniel Vilser, senior physician at the Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Jena University Hospital, reports from his practice.
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Consequences of Corona: Long Covid in children more common than expected
A current study by the Technical University in Dresden shows that children are more likely to suffer from persistent tiredness, exhaustion or coughing for a long time after a corona infection, while adults usually report smell and taste disorders, fever and shortness of breath as Long Covid symptoms.
Heart palpitations and a high resting heart rate can also be long-term consequences of Corona.
For the Dresden study, data from over 156,000 people suffering from Corona were evaluated: 11,950 children and young people up to the age of 17 and over 145,184 adults up to the age of 49 who were infected with Covid in 2020.
What was shown, among other things, was that over 30 percent of young people after an acute corona infection still complained about Long Covid symptoms, compared to the control group who had not undergone a corona infection.
Although statistically speaking, Long Covid long-term effects occur significantly less often in children and young people than in adults, doctors and clinics are increasingly reacting to the post-Covid phenomenon in younger people by setting up appropriate Long Covid outpatient clinics, such as the MRI Chronic Fatigue Center (MCFC) of the Munich Clinic.
This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication. It in no way replaces a visit to the doctor. Our editorial team is not allowed to answer individual questions about medical conditions.