Long COVID Symptoms are Similar in Children and Adults: A Narrative Review - Abstract
Long COVID-19 or the persistence of COVID-19 symptoms beyond four weeks has been recently recognized as a medical condition in children and adolescents. Only twelve studies could be found in the Long COVID literature on youth. This narrative review is a brief summary of some informative research on Long COVID in adults followed by a more detailed review of the studies on Long COVID in children and adolescents. Just as the prevalent COVID-19 acute infection symptoms are similar in adults and youth, so are the Long COVID symptoms including fatigue and dyspnea. Other persistent symptoms shared by the two age groups include headaches, muscle pain, memory loss and “brain fog” as well as similar patterns of brain PET hypometabolism. At this time, the symptoms have been less severe and persistent for youth versus adults. This may relate to their lesser severity of acute infection, in turn, related to less developed ACE-2 receptors and autonomic function or less frequent comorbidities. This research has several methodological limitations including non-representative samples that have typically been surveyed almost exclusively on physical symptoms at only one point in time and have not been compared to non-Long COVID control groups. Nonetheless, this sparse literature may inform potential diagnostic and preventative interventions.