Nearly a third of preteens with long COVID still haven’t recovered after two years, a study shows

A new study by British researchers shows that most COVID-19 patients aged 11 to 17 who reported long COVID symptoms three months after initial infection no longer experienced persistent symptoms after two years, but 29% always did was still the case.

The results, published in the journal Communication medicinecome from the National Long COVID in Children and Young People cohort study, which followed thousands of young people after their COVID-19 diagnosis.

More than 70% recovered within two years

A total of 12,632 participants were included in the study. Participants aged 11 to 17 years between September 2020 and March 2021 were surveyed about their health status 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after taking a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for COVID.

Of the participants, 943 had tested positive upon initial contact and had completed surveys within 24 months. After three months, 233 met the research definition of long COVID. After six months, 135 continued to meet the definition, and after twelve months that number dropped to 94 participants.

Two years after initial infection, 68 of 943 participants (7.2%) still met criteria for long COVID. This means that 165 of the 233 young people (70.8%) who had long COVID 3 months after infection and provided information at any time during the examination had recovered. But 68 of the 233 (29.2%) did not.

“Our results show that the majority of teenagers who met our research definition of long Covid three months after testing positive for the Covid virus have recovered after two years,” said study author Sir Terence Stephenson, PhD in one Press release from University College London. “This is good news, but we intend to conduct further research to better understand why 68 teenagers had not recovered.”

No differences regarding vaccination status

Among all teenagers included in the study, those who reported COVID reinfections during the study period had the most symptoms over 24 months.

The most commonly reported symptoms were fatigue, difficulty sleeping, shortness of breath and headache. Symptom prevalence was generally higher in people with recurrent SARS-CoV-2 infection than in people who never tested positive for the virus, the authors said.

Overall, 20 to 25% of all infection status groups reported three or more symptoms 24 months after testing, with 10 to 25% reporting five or more symptoms. However, not everyone who reported symptoms met the formal criteria for long COVID. In fact, 14.2% of those who never tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and 20.8% of those with at least two infections reported five or more symptoms.

We did not find that symptoms or their effects differ depending on vaccination status.

Older teens and women were most likely to meet formal definitions, the authors said. “We did not find that symptoms or their effects differ depending on vaccination status,” the authors write.