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CCU079: Investigating the diagnoses of conditions among children in England following SARS-CoV-2 infections compared to general respiratory infections
Safe People
Organisation name
University of Bristol
Organisation sector
3
Applicant name(s)
Katharine Looker
Eleanor Walsh
Funders/ Sponsors
Safe Projects
Project ID
CCU079
Lay summary
COVID-19 infection (also known as Covid, or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection) is mostly mild in children and young people. When someone continues to have symptoms weeks after their COVID-19 infection, this is known as long-COVID. Previous studies, and an online discussion group with families affected by long-COVID, have shown that these long-lasting symptoms are wide-ranging and can be severe. Some children and young people develop a new condition since having long-COVID. At the moment we don’t know: • How many children and young people with COVID-19 infection go on to develop long-COVID. • Which new diagnoses of other conditions (such as heart conditions, or problems with breathing) are associated with long-COVID. • Which groups of children and young people have the highest risk of developing long-COVID and associated conditions. We are now in the UK Government’s “Living with COVID” phase, which means much less testing for COVID-19 infection is happening. Instead, doctors assess patients solely on the basis of symptoms such as fever. However, many different infections can cause similar symptoms to COVID-19, and they too can have lingering health effects. We would like to find out in what ways the healthcare needs for long-COVID in children and young people are different to those for long-term health effects from other infections. This research will tell us which diagnoses children and young people with COVID-19 infection may go on to have. It will also tell us what makes some children more likely to develop these conditions compared to other children (e.g., older children, or those with pre-existing illnesses like asthma). Finally, we will compare our findings to those for long-term effects of other infections, to see in what ways long-COVID is different. We will use health record data for school-aged children (4-18 years) for the whole of England to carry out our research.
Public benefit statement
The results of this study will help us know which diagnoses children and young people have following COVID-19 infection, how many children and young people are affected, and what made them more likely to develop these conditions. If we know these things, we can plan healthcare services better. Doctors will have more information to help answer the questions families have about long-COVID. They will also be able to have more informed conversations with families and offer better care and advice to children and young people who have, or who are more likely to get, long-COVID.
Other approval committees
Project start date
03/03/2024
Project end date
02/08/2027
Latest approval date
01/03/2024
Safe Data
Dataset(s) name
GPES Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19)
Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care
Hospital Episode Statistics Critical Care
Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients
Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency
Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS)
Covid-19 Second Generation Surveillance System
Covid-19 UK Non-hospital Antigen Testing Results
COVID-19 Vaccination Status
Civil Registration - Deaths
Trusted Research Environments for CVD-COVID-UK / COVID-IMPACT
Data sensitivity level
De-Personalised
Release/Access date
01/03/2024
Safe Setting
Access type
TRE