Clinical Scorecard: Ventricular Strain and Its Relationship with Cardiovascular Symptoms and Pulmonary Function in Children with Previous COVID-19: Findings from the Pediatric SARS-CoV-2 Long-Term Outcomes Study

At a Glance

Key Highlights

• The analysis included 830 participants: 683 infected and 147 uninfected.

• Cardiac function did not differ between infected and uninfected participants at baseline or 12 months.

• Among participants with abnormal baseline values and follow-up data, several echocardiographic measures improved at 12 months.

• Among 73 crossover participants, most cardiac indices did not change significantly after infection; one developed abnormal right ventricular strain measures.

• Infected participants frequently reported cardiac, constitutional, and respiratory symptoms, but strain measures did not differ between those with and without symptoms.

Guideline-Based Recommendations

Diagnosis

• The study evaluated cardiac function using conventional echocardiographic and ventricular strain measurements.

Management

• The study did not evaluate treatments or provide management recommendations.

Monitoring & Follow-up

• Cardiac function and symptoms were evaluated at baseline and 12-month follow-up.

Risks

• Reported post-COVID-19 symptoms were not associated with differences in ventricular strain measures.

Patient & Prescribing Data

The study included participants aged 0 to 21 years with and without previous COVID-19 infection.

It did not evaluate medications or provide prescribing recommendations.

Clinical Best Practices

• Interpret the findings as observational rather than as recommendations for routine echocardiographic screening.

• Consider that obstructive pulmonary function test results were associated with differences in some right ventricular strain measures.

• Account for 12-month attrition and the absence of intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility analyses.

Related Resources & Content

• Pediatric SARS-CoV-2 Long Term Outcomes Study

• Pediatric echocardiographic reference values

• Pediatric ventricular strain reference values and Z-score equations