Most Severe Effects of PIMS-TS Resolved at Six Months

WENESDAY, June 2, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Though the need for physical rehabilitation and mental health concerns persist, organ-specific sequelae of pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (PIMS-TS) appear to be resolved at six months, according to a study published online May 24 in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.

Justin Penner, M.D., from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 46 children meeting diagnostic criteria for PIMS-TS with admission between April 4 and Sept. 1, 2020.

The researchers found that at baseline, all patients had elevated markers of systemic inflammation; none died. In all but one patient, systemic inflammation was resolved by six months. Of the 42 patients with positive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunoglobulin G antibodies within six weeks of admission, 90 percent remained seropositive at six months. In 96 percent of the patients, echocardiograms were normal by six months; gastrointestinal symptoms were reported by 98 percent of patients at onset and 13 percent at six months. By six months, renal, hematological, and otolaryngological findings were largely resolved. Minor abnormalities were identified on neurological examination in 52 percent of patients at six weeks and in 39 percent at six months, while there was minimal functional impairment at six months. There was improvement in the median manual muscle test-8 scores from 53 during hospital admission to 80 at six months; 45 percent of patients showed six-minute walk test results below the third centile at six months.

“Beyond physical sequelae, family trauma and anxiety were prominent in our cohort as a direct consequence of the affected child’s illness,” the authors write.

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