MIS-C: Symptoms Linger for Some Children After Acute COVID-19

New research looks at multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

At least two months after hospitalization with acute COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), more than 25 percent experience persistent symptoms or activity impairment, according to a study published online Aug. 12 in Pediatrics.

Aline B. Maddux, M.D., from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues conducted a multicenter, prospective observational cohort study in 25 U.S. pediatric hospitals to examine risk factors for postdischarge sequelae in children and adolescents (aged younger than 21 years) after hospitalization for acute COVID-19 or MIS-C. Two- to four-month survey data were available for 76.8 percent of 155 patients with acute COVID-19 and 78.8 percent of 203 patients with MIS-C.

The researchers found that 11 and 8 percent of patients with acute COVID-19 and MIS-C, respectively, had a readmission. Of those with acute COVID-19, 26.9 percent had persistent symptoms or activity impairment (22.7 and 14.3 percent, respectively), while 30.0 percent of those with MIS-C had persistent symptoms or activity impairment (20.0 and 21.3 percent, respectively). Persistent symptoms and activity impairment were associated with more organ systems involved among patients with acute COVID-19 (adjusted risk ratios, 1.29 and 1.37, respectively). Persistent symptoms occurred more often among patients with MIS-C and preexisting respiratory conditions, while activity impairment was more frequent among those with obesity (adjusted risk ratios, 3.09 and 2.52, respectively). Read more here.

Vaccines Could Prevent Lingering MIS-C From Taking Hold

The study period was also before children were eligible to get vaccinated for Covid-19.

“Vaccine uptake for children is still not very high, but vaccines could prevent this,” study co-author Dr. Adrienne Randolph, a senior associate in critical care medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and a professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, told CNN. Randolph’s earlier research has found that vaccination can help prevent MIS-C and serious illness in children.

The reassuring news, Randolph said, was that most of the kids hospitalized for MIS-C or Covid did not have symptoms lasting months after their initial infection.

There were also far fewer cases of long Covid among hospitalized kids than in hospitalized older adults, she said. Read more here.