Non-hospitalised Children & young people (CYP) with Long Covid (The CLoCk Study)

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a. aim(s) of the research: It seems that some children and young people (CYP) remain ill for a long time after infection with COVID virus. They are said to have ‘long COVID’. Something similar can follow a common childhood infection called glandular fever. Doctors don’t know how to diagnose long COVID, how common it is or how long it goes on for. There is no simple test for long COVID. We need to know more about it if we want to treat it. b. background to the research: Little is known about long COVID in adults or CYP. Risk factors for worse COVID in CYP include obesity, pre-existing diseases, learning disabilities, diseases of the brain, mental health problems and coming from an ethnic minority. The CYP likely to be most at risk of long COVID are teenagers who are more at risk of persistent fatigue and mental health problems after other viral infections. c. design and methods used: We will approach 30,000 CYP, half of whom we know had COVID. We expect 6,000 to agree to help us and we will ask them whether they still have physical or mental problems at 3, 6,12 and 24 months afterwards. We can compare the 3,000 responders who had a positive COVID test with the 3,000 responders who didn’t test positive. We can then agree on what is a medical diagnosis of long COVID and how we might treat it. d. patient and public involvement: (PPI): We will have a paid PPI lead who will ensure co-production with carers and CYP. We will also use some funds to encourage busy carers and CYP to give their valuable time to complete the survey s.e. Complete transparency: We will share all our results ASAP for free with anyone who wants to see them, especially the CYP who take part.