Pre and post-COVID 19 infection pulmonary functions in children with chronic respiratory disease: A case series

Abstract

As functional respiratory impairment following COVID-19 infection (COVID-19) is increasingly reported in adult, data regarding children especially with pre-existing chronic respiratory disease (PCRD) remain scarce. We retrospectively assessed clinical presentation, duration of symptoms related to COVID-19 from paediatric patients with PCRD and compared their pre/post COVID-19-I spirometry values. Data from 12 patients were analysed. Timing between COVID-19 diagnosis and subsequent functional evaluation ranged from 26 to 209 days (mean 77). The PCRD in these patients included asthma, cystic fibrosis, bronchiolitis obliterans and bronchomalacia. During COVID-19, all clinical presentations were mild. One patient displayed persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms for 8 weeks after infection. Two patients presented significant deterioration of post-COVID-19 spirometric values with a return to pre-COVID-19 values in subsequent measures. We concluded that children with PCRD are not at increased risk for severe COVID disease and that most of them have no or only transient pulmonary functional impairment 1 to 7 months after COVID-19.