AIM: We focused on the clinical picture, severity and prognosis of children who experienced long-term respiratory issues after COVID-19. METHODS: This was a national Czech multicentre study of paediatric post-COVID syndrome, which used a standard protocol to evaluate structural and functional anomalies and exclude alternative diagnoses. From 6 January to 30 June 2021, 11 paediatric pulmonologists enrolled all paediatric referrals aged 2-18 years with persistent respiratory symptoms more than 12 weeks after COVID-19, namely cough, dyspnoea and chest pain. Medical histories were taken, and physical examinations, lung function testing, chest X-ray and blood tests were performed. RESULTS: The dominant symptoms in the 39 children (56.4% girls) were exertional dyspnoea (76.9%) and a chronic cough (48.7%), while dyspnoea at rest (30.8%) and chest pain (17.9%) were less prevalent. More than half (53.8%) reported more than 1 symptom, and 38.5% had abnormal results for 1 of the following tests: lung function, chest X-ray or D-dimers. The median age of the children was 13.5 years (interquartile range ±4.8 years), and the median recovery time was 4 months (range 1.5-8 months). CONCLUSION: Our initial data suggest that the long-term respiratory impact of COVID-19 was relatively mild in our cohort, with a favourable prognosis.

Department of Paediatrics 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague and Thomayer University Hospital Prague 4 Czech Republic

Department of Paediatrics 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague and University Hospital Motol Prague Czech Republic

Department of Paediatrics and Inherited Metabolic Disorders 1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague and General University Hospital Prague Prague Czech Republic

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