Covid 19, the virus infected more than quarter of children and they were hospitalized during the early stage of the pandemic. These children had health problems for two to four months later on after they contracted the virus.

A research published in the Journal Pediatrics reports that 27 percent of children hospitalized with COVID - 19, they either had activity impairment, persistent symptoms or both conditions after two or four months being treated for the disease.

“Almost three quarters were back to baseline, which is reassuring. But, unfortunately, more than one in four were not,” Dr. Adrienne Randolph, lead investigator of the study and a senior associate in critical care medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, said in a press release.

“Although this is much better than many reports in hospitalized older adults, it is still very worrisome. The risks of severe illness and lingering complications are higher than the risk of complications from the vaccine, which are very rare,” she added.

The research includes datas collected from May 2020 and May 2021, before the vaccines were available for children.

Most commonly seen symptoms were fatigue or weakness, shortness of breath, cough, headache, muscle and body aches and fever.

The study is a good reminder that the rates of hospitalization and ICU admission may be lower in children than in adults,  the virus can still have a great long term impact on them, states Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of California Davis Children’s Hospital.

“They still are significantly affected by this. This can change their lifestyles. It can change the ability for them to participate in normal childhood activities. I think it’s a wake-up call for some parents at least about how important it is to protect their children against COVID to make sure that they are vaccinated and that they do avoid situations that are high risk for infection,” Blumberg told Healthline.

Sources - Healthline