Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital and Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307, Dresden, Germany.
Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Zellescher Weg 19, 01069, Dresden, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 10;12(1):2246. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-06166-y.
Post-COVID19 complications such as pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) and Long-COVID19 move increasingly into focus, potentially causing more harm in young adolescents than the acute infection. To better understand the symptoms of long-term mental health outcomes in adolescents and distinguish infection-associated symptoms from pandemic-associated symptoms, we conducted a 12 question Long-COVID19 survey. Using this survey, we compared the responses on neurocognitive, general pain and mood symptoms from seropositive and seronegative adolescents in a cross-sectional study design. Since May 2020, students grade 8-12 in fourteen secondary schools in Eastern Saxony were enrolled in the SchoolCovid19 study. Serostatus was assessed regularly in all participants. In March/April 2021, 1560 students with a median age of 15 years participated at the regular study visit after re-opening of the schools in mid-March and responded to our Long-COVID19 survey as part of this visit. 1365 (88%) students were seronegative, 188 (12%) were seropositive. Each symptom asked in the Long-COVID19 survey was present in at least 35% of the students within the last seven days before the survey. With the exception of seropositive students being less sad, there was no significant difference comparing the reported symptoms between seropositive students and seronegative students. The lack of differences comparing the reported symptoms between seropositive and seronegative students suggests that Long-COVID19 might be less common than previously thought and emphasizes on the impact of pandemic-associated symptoms regarding the well-being and mental health of young adolescents.Clinical Trial Registration: SchoolCoviDD19: Prospektive Erfassung der SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivität bei Schulkindern nach Ende der unterrichtsfreien Zeit aufgrund der Corona-Schutz-Verordnung (COVID-19), DRKS00022455, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00022455.
新冠病毒感染后出现的并发症，如儿童炎症性多系统综合征（PIMS）和长新冠，正日益成为关注焦点，其对青少年的危害可能比急性感染更大。为了更好地了解青少年长期心理健康结果的症状，并区分与感染相关的症状和与大流行相关的症状，我们进行了一项长新冠调查。使用这项调查，我们在一项横断面研究设计中比较了血清阳性和血清阴性青少年的神经认知、一般疼痛和情绪症状的反应。自 2020 年 5 月以来，在萨克森州东部的 14 所中学的 8-12 年级学生参加了 SchoolCovid19 研究。所有参与者定期进行血清学检测。2021 年 3 月/4 月，在 3 月中旬学校重新开放后的定期研究访问中，有 1560 名中位年龄为 15 岁的学生参加了该访问，并作为该访问的一部分回答了我们的长新冠调查。1365 名（88%）学生为血清阴性，188 名（12%）学生为血清阳性。在调查前的过去七天内，每个长新冠调查中问到的症状都至少在 35%的学生中存在。除了血清阳性学生不那么悲伤之外，血清阳性学生和血清阴性学生之间报告的症状没有显著差异。血清阳性和血清阴性学生之间报告的症状没有差异表明，长新冠可能不像以前想象的那么常见，这强调了大流行相关症状对青少年的幸福感和心理健康的影响。临床研究注册：SchoolCoviDD19：在新冠保护条例结束后，对学校儿童的 SARS-CoV-2 血清阳性率进行前瞻性评估（COVID-19），DRKS00022455，https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00022455。
