TY - JOUR
T1 - Illness characteristics of COVID-19 in children infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant
AU - Molteni, Erika
AU - Sudre, Carole H.
AU - Dos Santos Canas, Liane
AU - Bhopal, Sunil S
AU - Hughes, Robert C
AU - Chen, Liyuan
AU - Deng, Jie
AU - Murray, Ben
AU - Kerfoot, Eric
AU - Antonelli, Michela
AU - Graham, Mark
AU - Klaser, Kerstin
AU - May, Anna
AU - Hu, Christina
AU - Pujol, Joan Capdevila
AU - Wolf, Jonathan
AU - Hammers, Alexander
AU - Spector, Tim
AU - Ourselin, Sebastien
AU - Modat, Marc
AU - Steves, Claire J.
AU - Absoud, Michael
AU - Duncan, Emma
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded in part by the Wellcome Trust (WT213038/Z/18/Z). This work is also supported by the Wellcome Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Centre for Medical Engineering at King’s College London (WT203148/Z/16/Z) and the UK Department of Health via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre award to Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King’s College London and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the Medical Research Council (MRC), and British Heart Foundation. S.O. and M.M. are supported by the UK Research and Innovation London Medical Imaging and Artificial Intelligence Centre for Value Based Healthcare. S.O. is also supported by the Wellcome Flagship Programme (WT213038/Z/18/Z). E.M. is funded by an MRC Skills Development Fellowship Scheme at King’s College London. C.H.S. is supported by the National Core Studies, an initiative funded by United Kingdom Research and Innovation, NIHR, and the Health and Safety Executive, and funded by MRC (MC_PC_20030). C.H.S. is also supported by an Alzheimer’s Society Junior Fellowship (ASJF-170–11). Zoe Limited supported all aspects of building and running the application and service to all users worldwide. For the purpose of open access, the authors have applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/5/3
Y1 - 2022/5/3
N2 - BACKGROUND: The Delta (B.1.617.2) SARS-CoV-2 variant was the predominant UK circulating strain between May and November 2021. We investigated whether COVID-19 from Delta infection differed from infection with previous variants in children.METHODS: Through the prospective COVID Symptom Study, 109,626 UK school-aged children were proxy-reported between 28 December 2020 and 8 July 2021. We selected all symptomatic children who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were proxy-reported at least weekly, within two timeframes: 28 December 2020 to 6 May 2021 (Alpha (B.1.1.7), the main UK circulating variant) and 26 May to 8 July 2021 (Delta, the main UK circulating variant), with all children unvaccinated (as per national policy at the time). We assessed illness profiles (symptom prevalence, duration, and burden), hospital presentation, and presence of long (≥28 day) illness, and calculated odds ratios for symptoms presenting within the first 28 days of illness.RESULTS: 694 (276 younger (5-11 years), 418 older (12-17 years)) symptomatic children tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 with Alpha infection and 706 (227 younger and 479 older) children with Delta infection. Median illness duration was short with either variant (overall cohort: 5 days (IQR 2-9.75) with Alpha, 5 days (IQR 2-9) with Delta). The seven most prevalent symptoms were common to both variants. Symptom burden over the first 28 days was slightly greater with Delta compared with Alpha infection (in younger children, 3 (IQR 2-5) symptoms with Alpha, 4 (IQR 2-7) with Delta; in older children, 5 (IQR 3-8) symptoms with Alpha, 6 (IQR 3-9) with Delta infection ). The odds of presenting several symptoms were higher with Delta than Alpha infection, including headache and fever. Few children presented to hospital, and long illness duration was uncommon, with either variant.CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 in UK school-aged children due to SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain B.1.617.2 resembles illness due to the Alpha variant B.1.1.7., with short duration and similar symptom burden.
AB - BACKGROUND: The Delta (B.1.617.2) SARS-CoV-2 variant was the predominant UK circulating strain between May and November 2021. We investigated whether COVID-19 from Delta infection differed from infection with previous variants in children.METHODS: Through the prospective COVID Symptom Study, 109,626 UK school-aged children were proxy-reported between 28 December 2020 and 8 July 2021. We selected all symptomatic children who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and were proxy-reported at least weekly, within two timeframes: 28 December 2020 to 6 May 2021 (Alpha (B.1.1.7), the main UK circulating variant) and 26 May to 8 July 2021 (Delta, the main UK circulating variant), with all children unvaccinated (as per national policy at the time). We assessed illness profiles (symptom prevalence, duration, and burden), hospital presentation, and presence of long (≥28 day) illness, and calculated odds ratios for symptoms presenting within the first 28 days of illness.RESULTS: 694 (276 younger (5-11 years), 418 older (12-17 years)) symptomatic children tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 with Alpha infection and 706 (227 younger and 479 older) children with Delta infection. Median illness duration was short with either variant (overall cohort: 5 days (IQR 2-9.75) with Alpha, 5 days (IQR 2-9) with Delta). The seven most prevalent symptoms were common to both variants. Symptom burden over the first 28 days was slightly greater with Delta compared with Alpha infection (in younger children, 3 (IQR 2-5) symptoms with Alpha, 4 (IQR 2-7) with Delta; in older children, 5 (IQR 3-8) symptoms with Alpha, 6 (IQR 3-9) with Delta infection ). The odds of presenting several symptoms were higher with Delta than Alpha infection, including headache and fever. Few children presented to hospital, and long illness duration was uncommon, with either variant.CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 in UK school-aged children due to SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain B.1.617.2 resembles illness due to the Alpha variant B.1.1.7., with short duration and similar symptom burden.
KW - SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain
KW - paediatric COVID-19
KW - COVID-19 symptoms
KW - SARS-CoV-2 B.1.617.2 variant
KW - SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.7 variant
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130060759&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/children9050652
DO - 10.3390/children9050652
M3 - Article
C2 - 35626830
SN - 2227-9067
VL - 9
JO - Children (Basel, Switzerland)
JF - Children (Basel, Switzerland)
IS - 5
M1 - 652
ER -