Clinical characteristics of paediatric COVID‐19 patients followed for up to 13 months

Matteudi, Tatiana; Luciani, Léa; Fabre, Alexandre; Minodier, Philippe; Boucekine, Mohammed; Bosdure, Emmanuelle; Dubus, Jean‐Christophe; Colson, Philippe; Chabrol, Brigitte; Morand, Aurélie

Children are less affected by COVID-19 than adults1 . But, a small proportion of children develop paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome2 , with potentially lethal consequences. Studies have also described persistent long COVID symptoms that last more than four weeks from the onset of illness, including fatigue, muscle weakness, dyspnoea, chest pain, cough and anosmia2-5 . However, information on paediatric long COVID remains scarce and studies often describe hospitalised populations2,3 . We report the first 201 paediatric patients under 16 years old that were tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Marseille public hospitals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in France. We described the acute symptoms and long-term consequences of COVID-19 in the children, who were mostly outpatients.