SynthesisJournal of tropical pediatrics2021
Neurological Complications of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of tropical pediatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 164 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurological manifestations associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in pediatric patients: a systematic review.Revista paulista de pediatria : orgao oficial da Sociedade de Pediatria de Sao Paulo · 2025Pooled it
- COVID-19: Critical appraisal of the evidence.Anales de pediatria · 2021Pooled it
- Delirium in Children Hospitalized with Acute COVID-19 or MIS-C: Secondary Analysis of the 2020-2021 Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19.Neurocritical care · 2026Observational
- HLA-B class I allele associations with neurological complications in pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection: a retrospective observational study.BMC pediatrics · 2026Observational
- Observational
- Severe central nervous system injury in 9 children with COVID-19.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Utilizing machine learning to predict hospital admissions for pediatric COVID-19 patients (PrepCOVID-Machine).Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Unmasking the long-term effects: unravelling neuropsychiatric and neurological consequences of COVID-19.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2024Review
- Clinical manifestations and EEG findings in children infected with COVID-19 and exhibiting neurological symptoms.BMC pediatrics · 2024Article
- COVID-19-Associated Neurological Complications in Children.Iranian journal of child neurology · 2024Article
- Clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of children with SARS-CoV-2 infection complicated with severe neurological dysfunctions in Foshan, China.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2024Article
- Understanding Post-COVID-19: Mechanisms, Neurological Complications, Current Treatments, and Emerging Therapies.International journal of general medicine · 2024Article
- Sex differences in post-acute neurological sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 and symptom resolution in adults after coronavirus disease 2019 hospitalization: an international multi-centre prospective observational study.Brain communications · 2024Article
- Decreased NK cell count is a high-risk factor for convulsion in children with COVID-19.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Acute neurological symptoms in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children: A case series.Heliyon · 2023Article
- A critical appraisal of neurological evidence on paediatric COVID-19 patients. A systematic literature review.Heliyon · 2023Review
- Afebrile benign convulsions with or without a reversible splenial lesion in two pediatric patients with COVID-19.BMC pediatrics · 2023Article
- Neurological manifestations of COVID-19 in adults and children.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2023Observational
- SARS-CoV-2 Possible Etiology of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis in a Teenager: Case Report and Review of Literature.Viruses · 2023Review
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundKnowledge about neurological complications of COVID-19 in children is limited due to the paucity of data in the existing literature. Some systematic reviews are available describing overall clinical features of COVID-19 in children and neurological complications of COVID-19 in adults. But to the best of our knowledge, no systematic review has been performed to determine neurological manifestations of COVID-19.
methodsSix different electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CENTRAL, medRxiv and bioRxiv) were searched for articles related to COVID-19 and neurological complications in children. Studies/case series reporting neurological manifestations of COVID-19 in patients aged ≤18 years, as well as case reports, as neurological complications appear to be rare. The pooled estimate of various non-specific and specific neurological manifestations was performed using a random effect meta-analysis.
resultsTwenty-one studies/case series and five case reports (3707 patients) fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in this systematic review, from a total of 460 records. Headache, myalgia and fatigue were predominant non-specific neurological manifestations, presenting altogether in 16.7% cases. Total of 42 children (1%) were found to have been reported with definite neurological complications, more in those suffering from a severe illness (encephalopathy-25, seizure-12, meningeal signs-17). Rare neurological complications were intracranial hemorrhage, cranial nerve palsy, Guillain-Barré syndrome and vision problems. All children with acute symptomatic seizures survived suggesting a favorable short-term prognosis.
conclusionNeurological complications are rare in children suffering from COVID-19. Still, these children are at risk of developing seizures and encephalopathy, more in those suffering from severe illness.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.