A study conducted to assess the COVID complications among children revealed that they also had hepatitis. 

The commonest post-COVID presentation in children was multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MISC), but liver disease was also found in those post-COVID children who never had a preexisting case of it. The study was conducted by Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) along with a medical center in Madhya Pradesh.

The study has been published in a preprint. In this retrospective and follow-up observational study conducted from April 2021 to mid-June 2021, researchers reviewed all pediatric patients with acute hepatitis and observed a sudden spike in its features in a group during the second wave, where these children or adolescents developed sudden onset of acute hepatitis with no history of pre-existing liver disease in the absence of a commonetiology of acute hepatitis, a three-to six-week history of RT-PCR positive test, or a retrospectively confirmed COVID infection with high titer COVID antibodies.

These patients had asymptomatic coronavirus infection, while another small group of patients had signs similar to MISC, with serious presentation, multiple organ involvement, and COVID-19. Of the 33 patients who presented with hepatitis, 25 had unique features of it associated with hepatitis (CAHC). These patients did not have any classic COVID symptoms.

They presented with normal to borderline inflammatory markers and recovered on supportive treatment without any complications or mortality. Patients with MISC, on the other hand, needed admission to critical care. They had high level of inflammatory markers and 3 out of 8 patients had an adverse outcome.

The study concluded that with the emergence of newer variants of concern such as the Delta, CAHC appeared to be one of their varied presentations. 

Source: ET Healthworld