Hospitalized children with Covid-19 are at risk of developing febrile seizures and other neurological complications, suggests a study reported in the journal Pediatrics.¹

Antoon et al conducted a cross-sectional study of children hospitalized with Covid-19 aged 2 months to <18 years from March 2020 to March 2022 with an objective to identify the neurologic complications associated with Covid-19 in this age group and the factors associated with these complications, which included encephalopathy, encephalitis, febrile seizure, non-febrile seizure, aseptic meningitis, brain abscess and bacterial meningitis.

Out of the 15,137 children included in the analysis, 1060 (7%) developed a neurologic complication. Febrile seizure was the most common neurological complication occurring in nearly 4% of patients followed by non-febrile seizures (2.3%) and encephalopathy (2.2%). About 75% of these children had not underlying neurological disorder. They also had longer duration of hospitalization, higher ICU admission rates as well as prolonged length of ICU stay including rehospitalization and mortality rates.

Children who had had a neurologic complex chronic condition were 4-times more likely to develop a neurologic complication with adjusted odds ratio of 4.14. Younger age, infection during the delta wave and presence of a non-neurologic complex chronic condition were associated with lower risk of such complications with aORs of 0.97, 0.71 and 0.80, respectively.

This study has shown that neurological complications are frequent in children hospitalized with Covid-19. Compared to those without neurological complication, their prognosis was also poor. Timely diagnosis of such complications can improve their outcomes. Prevention is always better than cure. All eligible children, particularly those who have underlying neurologic conditions or other at-risk groups, should be fully vaccinated on schedule. All Covid-19 preventive measures should be strictly adhered to.

Reference

1. James W Antoon, et al. COVID-19 and Acute Neurologic Complications in Children. Pediatrics. 2022 Aug 11. doi: 10.1542/peds.2022-058167.