https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19...evere-covid-19-have-lasting-metabolic-changes
Study suggests kids with severe COVID-19 have lasting metabolic changes
Stephanie Soucheray, MA
Today at 4:00 p.m.
COVID-19
The blood samples included serum taken from children who were hospitalized at Massachusetts General Hospital for severe COVID infections, including MIS-C (multiple inflammatory syndrome in children), a rare but serious complication that can follow mild to moderate COVID cases.
Researchers from Harvard University and Murdoch University in Australia collected pediatric serum samples from 66 healthy controls with confirmatory absence of COVID antibodies, 55 participants with positive COVID-19 tests, and 26 participants who had MIS-C following COVID-19 infections.
Of the 55 children with COVID-19, 32 (58%) were hospitalized during their infection; however, only 14 (25%) presented with severe COVID-19 requiring supplemental oxygen. Of the kids with MIS-C, 13 (50%) required intensive care unit-level care, seven (24%) required vasopressors for cardiovascular dysfunction, and two (8%) required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
MIS-C patients have metabolic disorder markers
Samples collected from the children with MIS-C showed marked blood metabolic disruptions, including increased triglycerides and altered lipoprotein composition. Those alterations were also seen to a lesser extent in children with acute COVID-19, but not in the healthy controls.
Unlike adults, the authors wrote, severe COVID infections led to less lung and respiratory damage among children. But like adults, cardiac and metabolic disturbances suggest the potential for long-term problems, such as long COVID.
Despite milder clinical respiratory symptoms, children’s metabolic disturbances mirrored those seen in severe adult COVID-19 patients.
“Despite milder clinical respiratory symptoms, children’s metabolic disturbances mirrored those seen in severe adult COVID-19 patients, indicating a shared inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2,” the authors wrote. “This unfavorable shift toward hypertriglyceridemia during an inflammatory state has previously been reported for both acute COVID-19 infection in adults and children as well as those children diagnosed with MIS-C.”
In a press release from Murdoch University, researchers said the findings add to a growing body of literature on long-term health outcomes for children with COVID-19.
“This research challenges the widespread assumption that children are largely unaffected by COVID-19 based on the relatively mild respiratory effects. However, a minority of children experience a more severe immunologically driven form of the disease (MIS-C) that is associated with longer term GI effects and cardiovascular disease," said lead researcher Jeremy Nicholson, PhD, the director of the Australian National Phenome Centre at Murdoch University.
Study suggests kids with severe COVID-19 have lasting metabolic changes
Stephanie Soucheray, MA
Today at 4:00 p.m.
COVID-19
A new study based on blood samples from 147 children with or without COVID-19 shows severe COVID infections may cause lasting metabolic changes in children that could impact heart health. The study was published yesterday in the Journal of Proteome Research.The blood samples included serum taken from children who were hospitalized at Massachusetts General Hospital for severe COVID infections, including MIS-C (multiple inflammatory syndrome in children), a rare but serious complication that can follow mild to moderate COVID cases.
Researchers from Harvard University and Murdoch University in Australia collected pediatric serum samples from 66 healthy controls with confirmatory absence of COVID antibodies, 55 participants with positive COVID-19 tests, and 26 participants who had MIS-C following COVID-19 infections.
Of the 55 children with COVID-19, 32 (58%) were hospitalized during their infection; however, only 14 (25%) presented with severe COVID-19 requiring supplemental oxygen. Of the kids with MIS-C, 13 (50%) required intensive care unit-level care, seven (24%) required vasopressors for cardiovascular dysfunction, and two (8%) required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
MIS-C patients have metabolic disorder markers
Samples collected from the children with MIS-C showed marked blood metabolic disruptions, including increased triglycerides and altered lipoprotein composition. Those alterations were also seen to a lesser extent in children with acute COVID-19, but not in the healthy controls.
Unlike adults, the authors wrote, severe COVID infections led to less lung and respiratory damage among children. But like adults, cardiac and metabolic disturbances suggest the potential for long-term problems, such as long COVID.
Despite milder clinical respiratory symptoms, children’s metabolic disturbances mirrored those seen in severe adult COVID-19 patients.
“Despite milder clinical respiratory symptoms, children’s metabolic disturbances mirrored those seen in severe adult COVID-19 patients, indicating a shared inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2,” the authors wrote. “This unfavorable shift toward hypertriglyceridemia during an inflammatory state has previously been reported for both acute COVID-19 infection in adults and children as well as those children diagnosed with MIS-C.”
In a press release from Murdoch University, researchers said the findings add to a growing body of literature on long-term health outcomes for children with COVID-19.
“This research challenges the widespread assumption that children are largely unaffected by COVID-19 based on the relatively mild respiratory effects. However, a minority of children experience a more severe immunologically driven form of the disease (MIS-C) that is associated with longer term GI effects and cardiovascular disease," said lead researcher Jeremy Nicholson, PhD, the director of the Australian National Phenome Centre at Murdoch University.