COVID-19: Pediatric Diabetes, Lung Damage, Brain Impact, Newborns, and Higher Hospitalization Rates
Studies show kids are also at risk of long-term consequences from infection and especially those <5 for higher rates of hospitalization than most adults. Let's take a look.🧵1/
Studies show kids are also at risk of long-term consequences from infection and especially those <5 for higher rates of hospitalization than most adults. Let's take a look.🧵1/
While respiratory infections have previously been associated with the onset of Type-1 Diabetes (T1D), a study found T1D diagnoses were even more likely to occur among pediatric patients with COVID-19 infections ( jamanetwork.com ). 2/
They compared pediatric patients with COVID-19 infections to those with non-COVID respiratory infection and found the risks at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months were around 2x higher for those with COVID-19. 3/
"Respiratory infections have previously been associated with onset of T1D, but this risk was even higher among those with COVID-19 in our study, raising concern for long-term, post–COVID-19 autoimmune complications among youths." 4/
This recent study found pulmonary dysfunction after pediatric COVID-19 infection ( itnonline.com ). H/T: @MeetJess 5/
Low-field MRIs found persistent lung damage in children and adolescents that both recovered from COVID-19 and those with Long COVID, some a year since infection ( pubs.rsna.org ). 6/
They found the measure of air and blood flow in the lungs (V/Q match) was reduced from 81% in healthy controls to 62% in the recovered group and 60% in the Long COVID group. Only 1 child in the study had been vaccinated. Even recovered kids still had measurable lung damage. 7/
A study looked at PET brain scans of 7 children with Long COVID and compared them to 21 pediatric controls, 35 adults patients with Long COVID and 44 health adult subjects ( link.springer.com ). H/T: @MarcusFitzsimon 8/
Researchers found that despite lower initial severity of COVID-19 infection, pediatric patients had similar brain patterns to adult Long COVID patients on average 5 months later. On the left (C) is the brain scan of a healthy child compared to kids with Long COVID (P1 to P7). 9/
They conclude that children can have Long COVID, "with a similar functional brain involvement to those found in adults, regardless of age and initial severity." 10/
COVID-19 also impacts newborn babies. Here is an account of a 3kg full term baby delivered after a short labour and no distress to find the baby had persistent grunting and moved to the NICU ( ). 11/
The mother was fully vaccinated and had no symptoms but COVID antibodies were found in the baby and X-ray revealed totally white lungs on both sides. 12/
This Ob/Gyn has already lost 4 babies from COVID-19, and this newborn started deteriorating and developed MIS-N (multisystem inflammatory syndrome in neonates) which typically has worse outcomes than MIS-C in children. 13/
Thankfully after extensive treatment in the NICU, the baby did survive and is now off life-support and returned to the parents. 14/
Dr. Parikh recommends that pregnant people especially in their 3rd trimester "be meticulous in wearing N95 masks" as that is the most vulnerable period for the baby to get infected from the mother. 15/
Infants ages 0-5 months are hospitalized with COVID at higher rates than any age group other than seniors age 75+ ( insidemedicine.bulletin.com ). H/T: @jeremyfaust 16/
Looking at Ontario data, you can also see during the Omicron waves, children ages 0-4 had the third highest rate of hospitalization (see purple at the bottom), almost equaling the rate for those ages 60-79 for much of that period. 17/
SickKids ICU reached full capacity over the long weekend and the ER is seeing much longer than normal wait times ( toronto.ctvnews.ca ). 18/
Ontario pediatric hospitals are under strain and some including in Toronto have been forced to send critically ill kids as far as Ottawa to find a pediatric ICU bed ( ). 19/
A lot of kids are getting quite sick this fall from multiple respiratory viruses (in addition to COVID), needing critical care and filling the pediatric ICU beds. 20/
This summer Public Health Ontario released a report warning that COVID-19 infection can cause immune dysregulation ( publichealthontario.ca ). H/T: @lisa_iannattone 21/
"A potential increase in acquired impaired immunity in the Ontario population could have significant impact on the incidence and associated burden of infectious diseases (e.g., high viral loads, increased antibiotic use and resistance) and other conditions in the longer-term."22/
This seems to be playing out as a study in Nature found that COVID-19 infection leads to a 4x increased risk of other viral infections as seen in supplementary table 2 ( #MOESM4" target="_blank" rel="noopener" onclick="event.stopPropagation()">nature.com ). H/T: @rquiroga777 23/
So people should do everything they can to protect themselves and others from getting infected or reinfected ( ). 24/
Loading suggestions...