Abstract
Using data from 4678 children participating in VirusWatch, a household cohort study, we estimated the prevalence of persistent symptoms lasting ≥4 weeks as 1.7%, and 4.6% in children with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Persistent symptom prevalence was higher in girls, teenagers and children with long-term conditions.
Competing Interest Statement
ACH serves on the UK New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group. AMJ is a member of the COVID-19 transmission sub-group of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and is Chair of the UK Strategic Coordination of Health of the Public Research board.
Funding Statement
The research costs for the study have been supported by the MRC Grant Ref: MC_PC 19070 awarded to UCL on 30 March 2020 and MRC Grant Ref: MR/V028375/1 awarded on 17 August 2020. The study also received $15,000 of Facebook advertising credit to support a pilot social media recruitment campaign on 18th August 2020. FM is funded by the MRC UCL/Birkbeck Doctoral Training Programme, reference number MR/N013867/1. Research at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health benefits from funding via the NIHR GOSH Biomedical Research Centre. This study was supported by the Wellcome Trust through a Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellowship to RA [206602].
Author Declarations
I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.
Yes
The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
The Virus Watch study has been approved by the Hampstead NHS Health Research Authority Ethics Committee. Ethics approval number - 20/HRA/2320.
All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived.
Yes
I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).
Yes
I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.
Yes
Footnotes
↵* Virus Watch Collaborative: Susan Michie, Linda Wijlaars, Eleni Nastouli, Moira J Spyer, Ben Killingley, Ingemar Cox, Vasileios Lampos, Rachel A McKendry, Tao Cheng, Yunzhe Liu, Anne M Johnson, Jo Gibbs, Richard Gilson, Cyril Geismar, Sarah Beale, Isobel Braithwaite, Thomas E Byrne, Wing Lam Erica Fong, Parth Patel, Anna Aryee, Alison Rodger.
Data Availability
We aim to share aggregate data from this project on our website and via a "Findings so far" section on our website - https://ucl-virus-watch.net/. We will also be sharing individual record level data on a research data sharing service such as the Office of National Statistics Secure Research Service. In sharing the data we will work within the principles set out in the UKRI Guidance on best practice in the management of research data. Access to use of the data whilst research is being conducted will be managed by the Chief Investigators (ACH and RWA) in accordance with the principles set out in the UKRI guidance on best practice in the management of research data. We will put analysis code on publicly available repositories to enable their reuse.