Neuroimaging and immune phenotyping of long COVID in children, v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the neurological impact of COVID-19 in non-hospitalised children with persistent symptoms
IRAS ID
332564
Contact name
Nathalie Macdermott
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King’s College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 27 days
Research summary
Long Covid is a heterogeneous, poorly understood condition described in both adults and children with a history of COVID-19. Estimates vary of proportions of children and young people (CYP) affected. Data from the Office of National Statistics estimates that 8% of CYP may experience symptoms beyond 12 weeks.A more conservative estimate suggests 1.8% of CYP may experience symptoms beyond two months, although this is in contrast to the CLoCK study which has demonstrated approximately 14% of CYP experience persistent symptoms at 3 months following confirmed COVID-19 when compared with their peers who tested negative for COVID-19. Several different underlying disease processes have been suggested. These include persistence of the SARS-COV2 virus in the body, a persistent inflammatory process triggered by the initial viral infection, and an autoimmune reaction, where the virus has triggered the person’s immune system to attack their own cells and organ systems. The focus of this research is on the neurological immune response that may occur following significant inflammation within the body. Patients who experienced marked inflammation within the body during or following COVID-19 often presented with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (PIMS-TS). These patients have been shown to have more neurological symptoms and signs during their acute illness and require longer to recover. As long COVID may be a persistent inflammatory process in the body, we would like to understand the possible role of this in the neurological and ‘brain fog’ symptoms experienced by children with long COVID.
We aim to recruit 80 CYP with long COVID from the pan-London post-COVID service to undergo in depth MRI imaging, clinical assessment and blood tests looking at immune function, to better understand the mechanism causing damage in long COVID. We will compare this with data from 20 children fully recovered from COVID-19 and a large group of healthy controls recruited pre-pandemic.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/WM/0042
Date of REC Opinion
20 Feb 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion