Publications by authors named "Natalia K Rojas"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study examines the methodological challenges in assessing Long Covid in children and young people (CYP), particularly regarding issues like non-response and attrition that could lead to biased findings.
  • - It aims to create survey weights for the CLoCk study to better understand the prevalence of symptoms (like shortness of breath and tiredness) over time in both SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative CYP.
  • - The successful development and application of flexible survey weights allow for the adjustment of findings, making them more generalizable to the overall CYP population in England and emphasizing the need to account for selection biases when analyzing such studies.
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Young people living with Long COVID are learning to navigate life with a constellation of poorly understood symptoms. Most qualitative studies on experiences living with Long COVID focus on adult populations. This study aimed to understand the experiences of young people living with Long COVID.

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Background: Little is known about the long-term mental health consequences of the pandemic in children and young people (CYP), despite extremely high levels of exposure to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus and the disruption to schooling and leisure activities due to the resultant restrictions. There are mixed findings from systematic reviews of how the pandemic affected CYP's mental health, which may be due to heterogeneous methods and poor quality studies. Most, but not all, suggest deterioration in mental health but population level studies may obscure the differing experiences of subgroups.

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Background: Although 99% of children and young people have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the long-term prevalence of post-COVID-19 symptoms in young people is unclear. The aim of this study is to describe symptom profiles 12 months after SARS-CoV-2 testing.

Method: A matched cohort study of a national sample of 20,202 children and young people who took a SARS-CoV-2 PCR test between September 2020 and March 2021.

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Purpose: This study describes long COVID symptomatology in a national sample of 18- to 20-year-olds with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-confirmed Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) and matched test-negative controls in England. Symptoms in 18- to 20-year-olds were compared to symptoms in younger adolescents (aged 11-17 years) and all adults (18+).

Methods: A national database was used to identify SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive 18- to 20-year-olds and test-negative controls matched by time of test, age, gender, and geographical region.

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Background: Little is known about the prevalence and natural trajectory of post-COVID symptoms in young people, despite very high numbers of young people having acute COVID. To date, there has been no prospective follow-up to establish the pattern of symptoms over a 6-month time period.

Methods: A non-hospitalised, national sample of 3,395 (1,737 SARS-COV-2 Negative;1,658 SARS-COV-2 Positive at baseline) children and young people (CYP) aged 11-17 completed questionnaires 3 and 6 months after PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection between January and March 2021 and were compared with age, sex and geographically-matched test-negative CYP.

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Objectives: To describe the physical and mental health of children and young people (CYP) 6 months after infection with SARS-CoV-2 and explore whether this varies by COVID-19 vaccination.

Design: A non-hospitalised, national cohort of people aged 11-17 years old with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and PCR negatives matched at study invitation, by age, sex, region and date of testing who completed questionnaires 6 months after PCR testing. The questionnaire included 21 symptoms and standardised scales (eg, EQ-5D-Y and Chalder Fatigue Scale).

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Background: Despite high numbers of children and young people (CYP) having acute COVID, there has been no prospective follow-up of CYP to establish the pattern of health and well-being over a year following infection.

Methods: A non-hospitalised, national sample of 5086 (2909 SARS-COV-2 Positive; 2177 SARS-COV-2 Negative at baseline) CYP aged 11-17 completed questionnaires 6- and 12-months after PCR-tests between October 2020 and March 2021 confirming SARS-CoV-2 infection (excluding CYP with subsequent (re)infections). SARS-COV-2 Positive CYP was compared to age, sex and geographically-matched test-negative CYP.

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