Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Bushehr university of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran.
BMC Infect Dis. 2024 Sep 30;24(1):1074. doi: 10.1186/s12879-024-09997-4.
After recovering from the acute phase of COVID-19, some of the infected children manifest long COVID symptoms. The present study aims to identify long COVID symptoms in children and adolescents admitted to hospitals in Bushehr, Iran, during 2021 to 2023, and compare them with the non-affected group.
This historical cohort study with a population-based control group was conducted on 141 children and adolescents with COVID-19 hospitalized in Bushehr city hospitals and 141 non-affected peers. Out of 10 comprehensive health service centers in Bushehr city, 5 centers were selected by random sampling and the non-Covid-19 group was chosen from them (matched by gender and age with the affected group). The data were collected using the data recorded in the patients' records, conducting telephone interviews and completing the prevalent long COVID symptom form. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 18. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square/Fisher's exact tests, and stepwise logistic regression were used. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, with p < 0.05 as the significance level.
The mean age of the hospitalized children with COVID-19 was 79 ± 5.24 months old, 57.4% of whom were boys. Also, 46 individuals of the COVID-19 group (32.6%) manifested long COVID symptoms. The most prevalent symptoms included fatigue (54.3%), impaired attention or concentration (41.3%) and depression or anxiety symptoms (34.7%). Among the hospitalized children experiencing long-term COVID symptoms, 65.2% exhibited moderate disease severity. A significant relationship was identified between disease severity and muscle and joint pain (P = 0.025), as well as between the length of hospital stay and cough (P = 0.022), weight loss (P = 0.047), and symptoms of depression or anxiety (P = 0.008). Older age [(6-11 y; OR = 3.18, CI = 1.03-9.88); (12 ≥ y; OR = 4.57, CI = 1.40-14.96)] and having history of smoking or being exposed to secondhand smoke (OR = 12.45, CI = 3.14-49.36) were considered as risk factors for long COVID.
The variables of age and history of exposure to tobacco smoke exhibited a significant independent relationship with the occurrence of long-term COVID symptoms in children hospitalized due to COVID-19. Specifically, as age increases and the history of tobacco smoke exposure rises, the likelihood of experiencing long-term COVID symptoms also increases.
在从 COVID-19 的急性期康复后，一些受感染的儿童出现了长期 COVID 症状。本研究旨在确定 2021 年至 2023 年期间在伊朗布什尔住院的儿童和青少年的长期 COVID 症状，并将其与未受影响的组进行比较。
这是一项具有基于人群的对照组的历史队列研究，纳入了 141 名在布什尔市医院住院的 COVID-19 儿童和青少年以及 141 名未受影响的同龄人。在布什尔市的 10 个综合卫生服务中心中，通过随机抽样选择了 5 个中心，并且从这些中心选择了非 COVID-19 组（按性别和年龄与受影响组相匹配）。通过查看患者记录中记录的数据、进行电话访谈和填写普遍存在的长期 COVID 症状表来收集数据。使用 SPSS 版本 18 进行数据分析。使用描述性统计、卡方/Fisher 确切检验和逐步逻辑回归。计算了优势比 (OR) 及其 95%置信区间 (CI)，以 p<0.05 为显著性水平。
住院 COVID-19 儿童的平均年龄为 79±5.24 个月，其中 57.4%为男孩。此外，COVID-19 组中有 46 名（32.6%）出现了长期 COVID 症状。最常见的症状包括疲劳（54.3%）、注意力或专注力受损（41.3%）和抑郁或焦虑症状（34.7%）。在经历长期 COVID 症状的住院儿童中，65.2%的症状严重程度为中度。疾病严重程度与肌肉和关节疼痛（P=0.025）以及住院时间与咳嗽（P=0.022）、体重减轻（P=0.047）和抑郁或焦虑症状（P=0.008）之间存在显著关系。年龄较大[（6-11 岁；OR=3.18，CI=1.03-9.88）；（≥12 岁；OR=4.57，CI=1.40-14.96）]和有吸烟或接触二手烟史（OR=12.45，CI=3.14-49.36）被认为是长期 COVID 的危险因素。
年龄和接触烟草烟雾史这两个变量与因 COVID-19 住院的儿童发生长期 COVID 症状存在显著的独立关系。具体而言，随着年龄的增长和接触烟草烟雾史的增加，发生长期 COVID 症状的可能性也会增加。
