SPLaT-19 v1.0

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Symptom patterns and life with longer term covid-19 in children and young people: the SPLaT-19 cohort and qualitative study

  • IRAS ID

    310580

  • Contact name

    Victoria Welsh

  • Contact email

    v.welsh@keele.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Keele University

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    2 years, 0 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    Why are we doing this study? 

    Long-COVID means a COVID infection lasting longer than four weeks. Adults with Long-COVID describe symptoms including tiredness, feeling breathless and pain. Most research into Long-COVID looks at adults, but we know that some children and adolescents also get Long-COVID.

    What are we going to do?  

    We will invite all children aged 8-17, registered at participating GP practices, to fill in short, on-line questionnaires every three months for one year.

    The responses will help us understand, in children and adolescents:
    - how common Long-COVID is
    - what the symptoms are and how long lasting they are
    - who is most likely to get Long-COVID
    - how Long-COVID affects quality of life
    - whether having a COVID vaccine affects the chances of developing Long-COVID

    We will invite participants who tell us they have experienced symptoms of COVID lasting longer than four weeks for an interview. We will ask about their symptoms, how the illness has affected their lives and what has helped their recovery. We will include parent(s) or carer(s) in the discussions to understand the effect on the whole family. We will ask those who continue to have symptoms of Long-COVID to keep a diary of their experiences over two weeks.

    We will also hold a group discussion with adults to see how they think COVID has affected the children, adolescents and families that they work with.

    How will this help?  

    This study will help us to understand what long-COVID looks like in children and adolescents, and how life with long-COVID is for those affected and their families. We will be able to plan support to help recovery and discover further questions that need answering by future research.

  • REC name

    East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    22/EE/0116

  • Date of REC Opinion

    22 Aug 2022

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion