Somatic, emotional, and gastrointestinal symptom severity are increased among children and adolescents with COVID-19 2024 Wechsler et al

Abstract

Background
Post-infectious disorders of gut-brain interaction (PI-DGBI) have significant impact on children and adolescents. The effect of COVID-19 on PI-DGBI-associated symptoms in this population, however, is unknown.

Methods
We performed electronic medical record searches to identify patients 8–17 years old with a SARS-CoV2 PCR test at Lurie Children's Hospital between November 2020 and March 2021 (cohort 1) and April–October 2021 (cohort 2). Questionnaires were administered to assess symptoms prior to and 3 months following the test. This included the Pediatric Eosinophilic Esophagitis Symptom Score (PEESS), questionnaire of pediatric gastrointestinal symptoms—Rome IV, Nausea Profile (NP), dyspepsia symptom survey (DSS), nausea severity profile (NSP), and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). We grouped patients based on the presence of symptoms prior to COVID-19 test or the test result.

Results
One hundred and ninety-six parent(s) or guardian(s) in cohort 1 and 274 in cohort 2 completed surveys and self-reported their child's COVID-19 result. Cohort 1 had increased PEESS and DSS scores, lower PedsQL scores, and increased frequency of abdominal pain disorders among patients with symptoms prior to COVID-19 testing. Both cohorts had increased NP and NSP scores among patients with symptoms prior to COVID-19 testing that was highest among patients with a positive COVID-19 test. Abdominal pain and diarrhea prior to COVID-19 testing predicted higher NP scores.

Conclusions
Among symptomatic COVID-19 tested children, we found increased severity of nausea-associated somatic, emotional, and gastrointestinal symptoms in the 3 months following the test that was most increased among patients with a positive COVID-19 test.

Open access, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nmo.14909

 

One of the authors, Ben Katz, is a member of COFFI - COFFI - The international collaborative on fatigue following infection

 

Gosh… You don’t think infection with SARS 2 and COVID-19 illnesses might be harmful for children’s small vulnerable bodies do you?

 

Skimming the paper, there's not a single bit of anything that supports this idea of a gut-brain thingy or another. They're GI symptoms following an infection and those are fairly common and have nothing to do with the brain or psychology. But this is their starting point, for some odd ideological reason, and so they stick to it even though it's as completely irrelevant to the whole as a button is to button soup.

About the only reference I could find beyond simply asserting it in the abstract is this, which is basically "you can imagine that it could be of some relevance":

Which you could argue about demonic possessions or astrology. Actually it's even more relevant with astrology since celestial bodies definitely affect life on earth, the sun and the moon foremost of all. But it doesn't make astrology any relevant, it doesn't make it some gut-celestial body axis anymore than some imaginary and superfluous influence of stress is of any relevance when the cause is a viral infection.

Even the reference to emotional symptoms has nothing do to with emotions. They confuse senses with emotions, I guess. Feeling shaky when you have GI symptoms is not an emotion. This is asinine nonsense.

The whole thing with "stress can cause any and all symptoms" has completely fried the reasoning part of their brain. They've been attributing the consequences of infections to imaginary psychological causes for so long that they can't apply reason anymore. It's just reflexive garbage that they abuse to mass publish trash pseudoscience for their self-interest alone.