Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying infection control measures introduced sudden and significant disruptions to the lives of children and adolescents around the world. Given the potential for negative impacts on the mental health of youths as a result of these changes, a systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to examine the prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and sleep disturbances in children and adolescents during the pandemic. Major literature databases were searched for relevant cross-sectional or longitudinal studies that included primary and secondary school students or children and adolescents ≤18 years of age.

This paper aimed to examine how school nurse practice evolved as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. A scoping review of international literature, conducted and reported in line with Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) framework. Searches were conducted in September 2021. Ten databases were searched: The British Nursing Database, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Consumer Health Database, Health and Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health, Public Health, PsycINFO, PubMed and Web of Science. Relevant grey literature was identified through hand searching.

The paper examines the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on school-age children and their families. Changes to their daily lives were examined through the lens of their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. An analysis of current literature was conducted examining the emerging research on the pandemic's effects on families. A case example is provided to offer a narrative snapshot of the many experiences faced by children and families throughout school closures and stay at home orders.

Published data on COVID-19 mRNA vaccine–associated myopericarditis in adolescents and young adults have been derived from small case series, national population-based studies, or passive reporting systems. Pooled evidence from a larger, international cohort is scarce. This study aims to investigate the clinical features and early outcomes associated with myopericarditis after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in a heterogeneous population of adolescents and young adults. PubMed and EMBASE were searched through August 2022. Language restrictions were not applied.

Pregnant and lactating mothers have historically been excluded from clinical trials. To understand the shift from excluding to including this population in COVID-19 vaccine trials, this study conducted a review of guidance issued by countries in southern Africa over the last three years. It conducted a review of documents and official statements recorded on Ministries of Health websites, and social media platforms, the World Health Organisation website, the COVID-19 Maternal Immunisation tracker and the African Union official webpage. Search terms included COVID-19 vaccination policies, guidelines for pregnant and lactating women, COVID-19 vaccination trials and pregnant women. The research retrieved and reviewed policies, guidelines, and official statements from 12 countries.

This study's objective is to review the consequence of the COVID-19 epidemic on physical activities, sedentary  lifestyles,  screen  time,  and  changes  in  the  nutritional  status  of  school-age  children.  The outcomes  of  this  study  are  intended  to  be  applicable  to  obesity  management  in  children.  This  study reviewed  full-text  articles  and  open-access  publications  on  the  sedentary  lifestyle  of  children  during the pandemic. and the data were analyzed using cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional designs. The results of reviewing 17 articles show that school-age children’s physical activities and nutritional status have  decreased,  but  their  sedentary  lifestyle  and  screen  time  have  increased  due  to  social  restrictions  during the COVID-19 pandemic. Children’s decreased physical activities are caused by the absence of a comparable replacement mechanism as that before the pandemic. Meanwhile, the increasingly sedentary  lifestyle highly influences children’s physical and mental health. Screen time has also increased and is unavoidable during the pandemic because children’s activities were limited and their learning systems are switched to online learning; as a result, their supporting sedentary lifestyle increases while physical activities decrease. These factors have changed the nutritional status of children during the pandemic.

This research aims to evaluate the impact of school closures, as a measure to contain the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection, on the psychological well-being of students of all levels starting from the 2020-2021 school year. A systematic literature review was conducted according to the PRISMA 2020 Guidelines. The literature search was conducted on 4 different databases: MedLine, Embase, PsycINFO, and L.OVE Platform. Quantitative observational studies published until 10.01.2022 were included. Studies conducted during the first pandemic wave, i.e., during the 2019-2020 school year and/or during the mandatory lockdown or confinement period, were excluded. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed with validated scales. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were carried out independently by two authors.

To date, more than 628 million confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections were recorded globally. Highest incidences were usually observed in school-aged children. The aim of this living systematic review is to evaluate vaccine efficacy/effectiveness (VE) and safety of COVID-19 vaccines approved in the European Union for children aged 5-11 years. In this version, we included studies of any design identified through searching the COVID-19 L·OVE (Living OVerview of Evidence) platform up to 13 September 2022. We assessed risk of bias and rated the certainty of evidence (CoE) using GRADE.

In what ways and to what extent has the Covid-19 pandemic affected the lives of children and young people in Europe by limiting their access to physical education and other types of physical activity, including sport? A review of the available, reported, evidence-based knowledge is provided with regards to physical activity and motor behaviour; psycho-social well-being; as well as effects on mental well-being. From a literature review, the main insights are extracted and placed in a wider policy context, including as regards EU-wide priorities regarding sports policy, health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) as well as public funding, including from the EU budget.

Many children have become orphans due to COVID-19. Their experiences have been under reported due to focus on other areas. This study explores adverse social consequences of children who became orphans due to COVID-19. With the aid of a documentary review approach, this study extracts and analyzes reports from 11 highly ranked news reporting sites in the United States of America that contained expert opinions and narratives on the negative social consequences of being orphaned by COVID-19. Analysis of data followed the narrative thematic analysis procedure. The outstanding themes identified are the loss of caregivers and primary social support system, and increased risk of mental health concerns.

The pandemic coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused an unprecedented worldwide health emergency. The pandemic increased the susceptibility of pregnant women to maternal and fetal complications. Elderly and patients with comorbidities were also at high risk during the pandemic times. Further evidence supports that COVID-19 is not only a respiratory infection but possibly affects other organ systems, including the placenta. The key objective of this review is to explore the literature on COVID-19-affected pregnancies and study the pandemic's impacts on maternal, perinatal, and neonatal outcomes. Google Scholar and PubMed (Medline) were used for relevant literature searches. The clinical manifestations in pregnant women, fetus outcome, vertical transmission, and early and late pregnancy impacts are combined in database studies. Women should receive special attention for COVID even though most of the COVID-19-positive pregnant women had no symptoms or had minor ones. It was found that most pregnant women with COVID-19 had mild and few symptoms and that the effect on the fetus was insignificant. However, in some women, miscarriage and fetal growth retardation were seen as a consequence of the infection.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected adolescents. Safe and effective vaccines are pivotal tools in controlling this pandemic. We reviewed the safety profile of the BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents using mostly real-world data to assist decision-making. We used random-effects model meta-analysis to derive pooled rates of single or grouped adverse events following immunization (AEFI) after each primary and booster dose, as well as after combining all doses. Reporting on over one million participants with safety data were included.

Child maltreatment has detrimental social and health effects for individuals, families and communities. The ERICA project is a pan-European training programme that equips non-specialist threshold practitioners with knowledge and skills to prevent and detect child maltreatment. This paper describes and presents the findings of a rapid review of good practice examples across seven participating countries including local services, programmes and risk assessment tools used in the detection and prevention of child maltreatment in the family. Learning was applied to the development of the generic training project. A template for mapping the good practice examples was collaboratively developed by the seven participating partner countries. A descriptive data analysis was undertaken organised by an a priori analysis framework. Examples were organised into three areas: programmes tackling child abuse and neglect, local practices in assessment and referral, risk assessment tools.

This review serves to account for the published literature regarding the changing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on neonatal nutrition in low- and middle-income countries. Initial national and international guidelines regarding breastfeeding were often contradictory. Lack of clear guidelines resulted in separation of mother-neonate dyads and the reliance on non-human sources of milk at institutional levels. Mothers and families were less likely to initiate and/or continue breastfeed during the pandemic due to confusion regarding guidelines, lack of support for lactation, and concern for infection transmission to their neonates. Continued research in neonatal nutrition, however, continues to support the use of breastmilk as the optimal nutritional source for neonates.