ArticleJAMA pediatrics2025
Characterizing Long COVID Symptoms During Early Childhood.
Article in JAMA pediatrics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 13 papers.
What it found
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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
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Individualized online exercise therapy aids recovery in pediatric long-COVID-findings from an exploratory randomized controlled trial.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Trial
- Changes in young children's behavior following COVID-19 pandemic onset: A tale of three cities.Child development · 2026Article
- The Burden of Long-COVID-19 Among Pediatric Subjects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Observational
- Factors Associated with Long COVID in the Pediatric Population: A Retrospective Case-Control Study.Clinics and practice · 2026Article
- Critical Evaluation of the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Child Health and Wellbeing and Suggested Preparedness for Future Pandemics-A Narrative Review.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Article
- From HIV to SARS-CoV-2 associated neurological disorder ("HAND" to "SAND"): Viral infection as a "time-bomb" for the aging brain.Neuroscience applied · 2026Review
- Article
- Penalized regression with negative-unlabeled data: an approach to developing a Long COVID research index.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Article
- Article
- Review
- Observational Study: Lung Function and Symptom Control in Youth With Asthma up to 34 Months After COVID-19.Pediatric pulmonology · 2025Observational
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
86 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Importance: Recent studies have identified characteristic symptom patterns of long COVID (LC) in adults and children older than 5 years. However, LC remains poorly characterized in early childhood. This knowledge gap limits efforts to identify, care for, and prevent LC in this vulnerable population. Objectives: To identify symptoms that had the greatest difference in frequency comparing children with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection to those without, to identify differences in the types of symptoms by age group (infants/toddlers [0-2 years] vs preschool-aged children [3-5 years]), and to derive an index that can be used in research studies to identify young children with LC. Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a multisite longitudinal cohort study with enrollment from over 30 US health care and community settings, including infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection history. Study data were analyzed from May to December 2024. Exposure: SARS-CoV-2 infection. Main Outcomes and Measures: LC and 41 symptoms among infants/toddlers and 75 symptoms among preschool-aged children. Results: The study included 472 infants/toddlers (mean [SD] age, 12 [9] months; 278 infected with SARS-CoV-2; 194 uninfected; 234 male [50%]; 73 Black or African American [16%]; 198 Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish [43%]; 242 White [52%]) and 539 preschool-aged children (mean [SD] age, 48 [10] months; 399 infected with SARS-CoV-2; 140 uninfected; 277 female [51%]; 70 Black or African American [13%]; 210 Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish [39%]; 287 White [54%]). The median (IQR) time between first infections and completion of symptom surveys was 318 (198-494) days for infants/toddlers and 520 (330-844) days for preschool-aged children. A research index was derived for each age group based on symptoms most associated with infection history. The index is calculated by summing scores assigned to each prolonged symptom that was present, where higher scores indicate greater magnitude of association with history of SARS-CoV-2 infection: poor appetite (5 points), trouble sleeping (3.5 points), wet cough (3.5 points), dry cough (3 points), and stuffy nose (0.5 points) for infants/toddlers, and daytime tiredness/sleepiness/low energy (6.5 points) and dry cough (3 points) for preschool-aged children. Among infants/toddlers with infection, 40 of 278 (14%) were classified as having probable LC by having an index of at least 4 points. Among preschool-aged children, 61 of 399 (15%) were classified as having probable LC by having an index of at least 3 points. Participants with higher indices often had poorer overall health, lower quality of life, and perceived delays in developmental milestones. Conclusions and Relevance: This cohort study identified symptom patterns and derived research indices that were distinct between the 2 age groups and differed from those previously identified in older ages, demonstrating the need to characterize LC separately across age ranges.
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Registered trials
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