Teenagers will have persistent symptoms after COVID-19: Study

The study, which has been conducted by UCL and Public Health England, says that long COVID is clearly a possibility among teens

London: Up to one in seven children and young people who caught SARS-CoV-2 may have symptoms linked to the virus about three months later, suggest preliminary findings from the world's largest study on 'long COVOD' in children. The study, led by the UCL and Public Health England researchers, surveyed 3,065 11- to 17-year-olds in England who had positive results in a PCR test between January and March as well as a matched control group of 3,739 11- to 17-year-olds who tested negative over the same period. The findings, published on the preprint site Research Square, showed that when surveyed at an average of 15 weeks after their test, 14 per cent more young people in the test positive group had three or more symptoms of ill health, including unusual tiredness and headaches, than those in the test negative group, while 7 per cent (one in 14) more had five or more symptoms.