Journal article
Vaccine Effectiveness Against Long COVID in Children
Pediatrics (Evanston), Vol.153(4), e2023064446
04/01/2024
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2023-064446
PMCID: PMC10979300
PMID: 38225804
Abstract
Vaccination reduces the risk of acute COVID-19 in children, but it is less clear whether it protects against long COVID. We estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against long COVID in children aged 5-17 years.
This retrospective cohort study used data from 17 health systems in the RECOVER PCORnet electronic health record (EHR) Program for visits after vaccine availability. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate VE against long COVID with matching on age group (5-11, 12-17) and time period and adjustment for sex, ethnicity, health system, comorbidity burden, and pre-exposure health care utilization. We examined both probable (symptom-based) and diagnosed long COVID in the year following vaccination.
The vaccination rate was 56% in the cohort of 1,037,936 children. The incidence of probable long COVID was 4.5% among patients with COVID-19, while diagnosed long COVID was 0.7%. Adjusted vaccine effectiveness within 12 months was 35.4% (95 CI 24.5 - 44.5) against probable long COVID and 41.7% (15.0 - 60.0) against diagnosed long COVID. VE was higher for adolescents 50.3% [36.3 - 61.0]) than children aged 5-11 (23.8% [4.9 - 39.0]). VE was higher at 6 months (61.4% [51.0 - 69.6]) but decreased to 10.6% (-26.8 - 37.0%) at 18-months.
This large retrospective study shows a moderate protective effect of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination against long COVID. The effect is stronger in adolescents, who have higher risk of long COVID, and wanes over time. Understanding VE mechanism against long COVID requires more study, including EHR sources and prospective data.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Vaccine Effectiveness Against Long COVID in Children
- Creators
- Hanieh Razzaghi - Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaChristopher B Forrest - Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaKathryn Hirabayashi - Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaQiong Wu - University of PennsylvaniaAndrea Allen - Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaSuchitra Rao - Children's Hospital ColoradoYong Chen - University of PennsylvaniaH Timothy Bunnell - Nemours Children's Health SystemElizabeth A Chrischilles - University of IowaLindsay G Cowell - The University of Texas Southwestern Medical CenterMollie R Cummins - University of UtahDavid A Hanauer - University of MichiganMiranda Higginbotham - Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaBenjamin D Horne - Intermountain HealthcareCarol R Horowitz - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiRavi Jhaveri - Lurie Children's HospitalSusan Kim - University of California, San FranciscoAaron Mishkin - Temple UniversityJennifer A Muszynski - Nationwide Children's HospitalSusanna Naggie - Duke UniversityNathan M Pajor - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterAnuradha Paranjape - Temple UniversityHayden T Schwenk - Stanford MedicineMarion R Sills - Children's Hospital ColoradoYacob G Tedla - Vanderbilt University Medical CenterDavid A Williams - University of MichiganCharles Bailey - University of Pennsylvania
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Pediatrics (Evanston), Vol.153(4), e2023064446
- DOI
- 10.1542/peds.2023-064446
- PMID
- 38225804
- PMCID
- PMC10979300
- NLM abbreviation
- Pediatrics
- ISSN
- 0031-4005
- eISSN
- 1098-4275
- Publisher
- AMER ACAD PEDIATRICS
- Grant note
- National Institutes of Health Agreement: OT2HL161847-01
This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health Agreement OT2HL161847-01 as part of the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery(RECOVER) program of research. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted asrepresenting the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the National Institutes of Health.
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 01/16/2024
- Date published
- 04/01/2024
- Academic Unit
- Pharmacy; Epidemiology
- Record Identifier
- 9984548289502771
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