Table 1.
Studies reporting long-term physical symptoms
| Authors and date | Age group | Setting | Time frame | Long symptoms | Control group | Number of participants | SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bahar et al., December 1st, 2020 [34] | Patients less than 22 y | Children’s National Hospital, DC | Retrospective (March 13th to June 21st, 2020) | Long-term viral shedding | None | 6584 | RT-PCR from nasopharyngeal swabs |
| Wu et al., July 1st, 2020 [35] | Newborns to 15 y | Qingdao Women and Children’s Hospital and Wuhan Children’s Hospital | Retrospective (January 20th to February 27th, 2020) | Long-term viral shedding | None | 74 | RT-PCR from nasopharyngeal swabs |
| Li et al., May 19th, 2020 [33] | Children < 14 y | Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Zhejiang Province | Retrospective (January 1st, 2020 to March 31st, 2020) | Weight gain and atopic dermatitis | None | Not reported | Not reported |
| Noh et al., January 21st, 2020 [36] | Children and adolescents ≤ 19 y | Households in Northern Virginia, U.S. | Cross-sectional, observational study (July to October, 2020) |
None specifically SARS-CoV-2 antibody rate was double the adult rate Robust immune response to the nucleocapsid antigen |
None | 1500 | PCR |
| Buonsenso et al., January 26th, 2021 [20] | Children ≤ 18 y | Fondazione Policlinico Univeersitario A. Gemelli IRCCS (Rome, Italy) | Cross-sectional (September 1st, 2020 to January 1st, 2021) | Long-term health symptoms 120 d after COVID-19 infection, including fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headache, insomnia, respiratory problems and palpitations | None | 1733 | Not reported |
| Buonsenso et al., January 20th, 2021 [37] | Adults, and children younger than 18 y | Fondazione Policlinico Univeersitario A. Gemelli IRCCS (Rome, Italy) | Prospective cohort (May 25th to July 15th, 2020) |
None specifically Similar rates of SARS-CoV-2 IgG in all age groups studied |
None | 110 | PCR from nasopharyngeal swabs |
| Ludvigsson, March 2021 [38] | Children with median age of 12 y (range 9–15) | Sweden | Case report | All five children had fatigue, dyspnea, heart palpitations or chest pain, and four had headaches, difficulties concentrating, muscle weakness, dizziness and sore throats | None | 5 | PCR and SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing |
| Nogueira López et al., March 28th, 2021 [29] | Children with median age of 142 mon (IQR 117.8–166.8) | Spain | Prospective cohort (March to June 2020) | Persistent low‐grade fever, intense asthenia and severe headache | None | 72 | RT-PCR |
| Radtke et al., July 15th, 2021 [30] | Children with median age of 11 y (IQR 9–13) | 55 randomly selected schools in the canton of Zurich in Switzerland | Prospective cohort (October and November 2020 to March and April 2021) | The most frequently reported symptoms lasting more than 12 wk among seropositive children were tiredness (3/109, 3%), difficulty concentrating (2/109, 2%), and increased need for sleep (2/109, 2%) | Population-based seronegative group | 1355 | SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing |
| Osmanov et al. July, 2021 [31] | Children ≤ 18 y | Z.A. Bashlyaeva Children's Municipal Clinical Hospital (Moscow, Russia) | Prospective cohort study (April 2nd, 2020 to August 26th, 2020) | Persistent symptoms among which fatigue (53, 10.7%), sleep disturbance (36, 6.9%) and sensory problems (29, 5.6%) were the most common | None | 518 | RT-PCR |
RT-PCR reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, SARS-CoV-2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, COVID-19 coronavirus disease 2019, IgG immunoglobulin G, IQR interquartile range