Abstract Objective The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on children’s well-being. This study examines the mental and physical health of youth infected with SARS-CoV-2 in comparison to uninfected youth and infected youths’ functioning across pandemic waves. Methods Baseline parent-proxy and self-report questionnaire data from SARS-CoV-2-infected and uninfected youth were collected as part of a multisite, prospective, longitudinal observational study to evaluate clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection in youth. Measures included the Developmental Profile-4, PROMIS scales, and the CoRonavIruS health Impact Survey. Results Data on 684 infected and 147 uninfected youth (median age = 8.9 years) were analyzed. There was no difference between groups regarding developmental concerns. When controlling for age/gender, caregivers of infected youth reported worse youth global health, physical functioning, cognitive functioning, pain interference, fatigue, and sleep disturbance compared to caregivers of uninfected youth, ps .05. Infected youth reported worse fatigue and sleep disturbance compared to uninfected youth, ps .05. Anxiety, depressive symptoms, and peer relationships did not differ between groups. Infected youth categorized as “at risk” were more likely to be female, older, have a pre-existing condition, were infected during the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 wave, or were infected more than 90 days prior to baseline. Conclusions Baseline data from a large cohort study indicate that the physical functioning of youth infected with SARS-CoV-2 was worse than that of uninfected youth, but mental health concerns were comparable. Data may reflect the direct impact of SARS-CoV-2 on physical health and the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all youths’ mental health. Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04830852.
Herbert et al. (Wed,) studied this question.