While it's rare for children to develop severe COVID-19 cases that require hospitalization, those who do may be more likely to have neurological complications compared to adults, according to a study published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.
Researchers in the U.K. created a real-time notification system to track children who experienced neurological complications from COVID-19. They found 52 such cases among 1,334 children hospitalized with COVID-19 between April 2, 2020 and Feb. 1, 2021. The estimated prevalence of neurological symptoms in children was 3.8 percent, compared to a previous estimate of 0.9 for hospitalized adults.
Researchers also compared children who developed neurological complications during their initial infection to those who had multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C, another rare complication of the virus.
"Our nationwide study confirms that children with [MIS-C] can have brain and nerve problems; but we have also identified a wide spectrum of neurological disorders in children due to COVID-19," lead author Dr. Stephen Ray, a pediatrician at the University of Liverpool, said in a July 16 news release. "These were often due to the child's immune response after COVID-19 infection."
During a follow-up period one to six months after discharge, 65 percent of children had good short-term outcomes, researchers found. One-third had some degree of disability due to their neurological complications, and one child died.
Researchers said more follow-up is needed to understand these complications' long-term effects on children.
To view the full study, click here.