Data from England reveals that of the 25 deaths among children in the first year of the pandemic that were caused by COVID-19, just six of those were totally healthy and had no underlying conditions. In the same period there were more than 1,100 heart deaths among children, along with almost 1,200 fatalities linked to neurological conditions and more than 450 deaths among under-18s with respiratory conditions, according to a study in Nature Medicine.
NHS statistics also showed that the number of children awaiting treatment for eating disorders has doubled in the past year. The official figures showed more than 2,000 children and young people were waiting for treatment in September 2021, up from 860 in a year.
The research examining more than 3,000 deaths of under-18s in England in the year since the first lockdown found only a “tiny” proportion linked to COVID:
Meanwhile, a separate study from the University of Oxford showed a 17% fall in diagnoses of childhood cancers after the first lockdown. Researchers said those diagnosed during the pandemic were twice as likely to be admitted to intensive care before diagnosis, suggesting the disease was more advanced, when survival chances are worse.
The Telegraph writes that experts said the data painted a “devastating picture” of the long-term harm on children and problems being stored up for the future
Dr Camilla Kingdon, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the study showed “very, very tiny numbers” of children dying from COVID. She said successive lockdowns and social distancing caused far greater consequences “through lost education, mental health, and other collateral damage”, with much of the impact yet to be seen.
“The view was that kids werenʼt affected by COVID. But what we would constantly try to point out is actually, these are wider issues that are no less detrimental to children and may have a more long lasting impact than the virus itself,” she said. “You can see it in the backlog in community child health services, autism assessments, therapy referrals.”
Prof Russell Viner, a professor in adolescent health at University College London and an author of the paper on COVID cases, said: “The data show indirect effects of the pandemic on children are likely to be significantly greater than the direct effects.”
Likening the actions taken in lockdown to “wrapping our children in cotton wool”, he warned that the steps taken in an effort to protect them now risked “suffocating their mental health”.
Dip in all childhood mortalities during pandemic
The Telegraph adds that official data show a dip in all childhood mortalities during the pandemic, with most flu and other respiratory infections eliminated by social distancing measures. But Viner said this could “rebound at us” in coming years, with lack of exposure to everyday bugs leaving immune systems more vulnerable. “The concern is that what we are doing is storing up problems for the future,” he said.
The study of childhood cancers by the University of Oxford examined diagnoses among children and young people up to the age of 25, comparing the period from February 2020 to August 2020 with the same period in previous years. Overall, the numbers diagnosed with brain tumours, leukaemia, lymphoma, sarcoma and renal tumour fell by almost a fifth.
The study also suggests cases were detected far later than would normally be the case, with cases diagnosed during the pandemic twice as likely to be detected after admission to intensive care.
Currently, NHS data show 5.8 million people on waiting lists for treatment, and the worst accident and emergency performance on record.
The study of childhood deaths was carried out by experts from NHS England, Public Health England and several universities and hospitals, who analysed mortality figures between March 2020 and February 2021. They found just six healthy children with no underlying health conditions died as a direct result of catching COVID, including two who developed a Kawasaki-like inflammatory condition called Pims-TS.
Separate data show that on average, about 900 children die annually from infectious diseases, with about 90 deaths from flu or pneumonia among children in 2019 in England, adds The Telegraph. The study showed that more than 3,100 children died in the year following the first lockdown, but only 61 were infected with COVID. Of those, 25 died as a result of the virus, including 19 who suffered from a chronic health condition, most of which were “life-limiting”.
Researchers said that during the study period, almost half a million under-18s contracted COVID, giving an infection fatality rate of five per 100,000 people. That means that if a child tests positive for the virus, they have a 99.995% chance of surviving. With more than 12 million under-18s in England, the researchers said COVID kills two children per million.
While the research was comprehensive and spanned England, it looked only at a time period where the alpha and original strains of the virus were present as the delta variant had yet to take off in the UK.
Researchers said they expected the findings would broadly hold, when they are updated, with children at extremely low risk of death from the virus.
Study details
Deaths in children and young people in England after SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first pandemic year
Clare Smith, David Odd, Rachel Harwood, Joseph Ward, Mike Linney, Matthew Clark, Dougal Hargreaves, Shamez N. Ladhani, Elizabeth Draper, Peter J. Davis, Simon E. Kenny, Elizabeth Whittaker, Karen Luyt, Russell Viner & Lorna K. Fraser
Published in Nature Medicine 11 November 2021
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is rarely fatal in children and young people (CYP, <18 years old), but quantifying the risk of death is challenging because CYP are often infected with SARS-CoV-2 exhibiting no or minimal symptoms. To distinguish between CYP who died as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection and those who died of another cause but were coincidentally infected with the virus, we undertook a clinical review of all CYP deaths with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test from March 2020 to February 2021. The predominant SARS-CoV-2 variants were wild-type and Alpha.
Here we show that, of 12,023,568 CYP living in England, 3,105 died, including 61 who were positive for SARS-CoV-2. Of these deaths, 25 were due to SARS-CoV-2 infection (mortality rate, two per million), including 22 due to coronavirus disease 2019—the clinical disease associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection—and 3 were due to paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2. In total, 99.995% of CYP with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test survived. CYP older than 10 years, Asian and Black ethnic backgrounds and comorbidities were over-represented in SARS-CoV-2-related deaths compared with other CYP deaths.
These results are important for guiding decisions on shielding and vaccinating children. New variants might have different mortality risks and should be evaluated in a similar way.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
UK medical schools fail to provide adequate training on eating disorders
Millions of cancelled operations due to COVID and high death risk – UK study
Study finds childhood cancer substantially undiagnosed
Almost 12,000 people died from COVID caught in an NHS hospital in England