Most teenagers recover from long Covid after two years, says new landmark study

Most teenagers who have suffered from long Covid recover within two years, according to the largest study of its kind.

But the researchers said more work was needed to understand why some children still had ongoing health problems two years after infection.

Led by experts from University College London (UCL), the study examined data on thousands of older children and teenagers. Young people aged 11 to 17 were asked about their health three, six, 12 and 24 months after taking a PCR test for the Covid virus between September 2020 and March 2021.

Out of 12,632 teenagers and older children who participated in the study, 943 tested positive and provided answers at three, six, 12 and 24 months after their original test.

Of these, 233 were deemed to have long Covid three months after initially testing positive.

At six months, 135 continued to meet the research definition of long Covid, according to the paper, which has been published in the journal Nature Communications. The study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and UK Research and Innovation.

The children and teenagers were defined as having long Covid if they had more than one symptom - for at least three months - of tiredness, trouble sleeping, shortness of breath or headaches, alongside problems with either mobility, self-care, doing usual activities, having pain or discomfort, or feeling very worried or sad.