BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Pulmonology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1567974
This article is part of the Research TopicProgress in clinical and mechanistic studies of severe respiratory viral infections in childrenView all 5 articles
Reduced exercise capacity in pediatric post-COVID syndrome correlates with time post infection and does not affect quality of life "Exercise capacity in pediatric post-COVID"
Provisionally accepted
Lothar Stein1*
Svea Mackenrodt1Momme Kück1
Sven Haufe1Arno Kerling1
Uwe Tegtbur1Valentina Skerries2Martin Wetzke2
Christine Happle2- 1Clinic for Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
- 2Clinic for Pediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Center for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany
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Objectives: Post-COVID syndrome (PCS) in children and adolescents is reported less frequently and typically of shorter duration than in adults but can be associated with significant morbidity and reduction of quality of life (QoL). In pediatric PCS, data on exercise capacity (EC) is rare.Methods:This prospective, monocentric, cross-sectional study, analysed EC, QoL and clinical parameters in pediatric PCS patients (n=29/53 girls, 14.4±2.5y). 210.0±104.2 days passed between SARS-CoV-2 infection and study-related examinations.Results: Main PCS symptoms were reduced subjective EC (92.4%), shortness of breath (64.2%), concentration difficulties (60.4%), and breathlessness (47.2%). In PCS patients, EC was 76.6±16.0% VO2peakpredicted and maximum workload 76.0±17.9%norm. Overall QoL (Kindl-R total score) was 89.2±17.3%norm, self-assessed physical well-being was 60.7±30.4%norm, and emotional well-being 85.1±23.2%norm. We grouped the PCS patients into deconditioned vs. conditioned (threshold 80% of VO2peakpredicted EC). No group differences in age, bodyweight, height, muscle mass, fat percentage, BMI, lung function, neuropsychological symptoms, and well-being occurred. While max. workloads and VO2peak differed significantly according to grouping, lactate levels and self-assessed exertion were comparable. However, elapsed time after SARS-COV-2 infection was significantly shorter in deconditioned vs. conditioned patients (mean 198.5±120.7 vs. 230.8±62.6 days; p=0.021).Pediatric PCS is associated with reduced EC, which is significantly impacted by time post SARS-CoV-2 infection, but does not appear to affect the patients QoL or self-esteem.
Keywords: post-COVID syndrome, pediatric, exercise testing, Quality of Life, Sars - cov - 2
Received: 28 Jan 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Stein, Mackenrodt, Kück, Haufe, Kerling, Tegtbur, Skerries, Wetzke and Happle. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lothar Stein, Clinic for Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hanover, Germany
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