{"doi":"10.3389/fped.2025.1628826","title":"Evaluation of a pediatric post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 index score","abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective</jats:title><jats:p>This study aims to assess the performance of the Researching COVID-19 to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative's proposed post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) index in a cohort of children evaluated for SARS-CoV-2 infection, 6–12 months after exposure.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Study design</jats:title><jats:p>We conducted a multicenter, prospective cohort study with 6- and 12-month follow-up in 14 Canadian tertiary-care pediatric emergency departments (EDs) in the Pediatric Emergency Research Canada network. Eligible children were 6 to &amp;lt;18 years of age who were tested for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. We assessed the score validity and reliability and evaluated the associations between PASC index scores dichotomized using threshold values (≥5.5 for ages 6 to &amp;lt;12 years and ≥5.0 for ages 12 to &amp;lt;18 years) and SARS-CoV-2 infection.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Participants included 785 children, with a median age of 9 years (IQR: 7–13), enrolled between August 2020 and February 2022. Factor analysis identified characteristics that accounted for 32%–40% of variance. Strong correlations were identified between PASC index scores and PedsQL™ and overall health status; Cronbach's <jats:italic>α</jats:italic> ranged from 0.49 to 0.67. Changes in PASC index scores across time points accounted for 71% (6 to &amp;lt;12 years) and 63% (12 to &amp;lt;18 years) of total variance. The proportion of children exceeding PASC index score thresholds did not differ between children positive and negative for SARS-CoV-2 test in the 6 to &amp;lt;12 (25% vs. 22%; aOR: 1.2; 95% CI: 0.6, 2.5) and 12 to &amp;lt;18 (18% vs. 10%; aOR: 2.2; 95% CI: 0.5, 10.4) age groups at 6 months. Similar results were reported at 12 months.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>While scores correlated with quality of life and overall health, internal reliability was low to acceptable. The PASC index was not associated with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.</jats:p></jats:sec>","journal":"Frontiers in Pediatrics","year":2025,"id":630757,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":744977,"name":"Jianling Xie","orcid":"0000-0002-0986-154X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1634262,"name":"Kathleen Winston","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1221651,"name":"Brett Burstein","orcid":"0000-0002-1107-9514","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1304975,"name":"Vikram Sabhaney","orcid":"0000-0002-9460-2998","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1634263,"name":"Jason Emsley","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1221659,"name":"Jocelyn Gravel","orcid":"0000-0001-5901-4990","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":778618,"name":"April Kam","orcid":"0000-0002-9977-0966","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":779049,"name":"Darcy Beer","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1014114,"name":"Roger Zemek","orcid":"0000-0001-7807-2459","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1221668,"name":"Ahmed Mater","orcid":"0000-0001-9478-1132","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":590483,"name":"Robert Porter","orcid":"0000-0003-1905-6701","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1222301,"name":"Gabrielle Freire","orcid":null,"position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":729996,"name":"Naveen Poonai","orcid":"0000-0003-1540-0413","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1221647,"name":"Simon Berthelot","orcid":"0000-0002-0372-0586","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1634267,"name":"Anne Moffatt","orcid":null,"position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":778613,"name":"Andrew Dixon","orcid":"0000-0003-4722-3298","position":16,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1634269,"name":"Deepti Reddy","orcid":null,"position":17,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1634270,"name":"Marina Salvadori","orcid":null,"position":18,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":631876,"name":"Stephen B. Freedman","orcid":"0000-0003-2319-6192","position":19,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1634260,"name":"Frederick Dun-Dery","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Evaluation of a pediatric post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 index score","abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Objective</jats:title><jats:p>This study aims to assess the performance of the Researching COVID-19 to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative's proposed post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) index in a cohort of children evaluated for SARS-CoV-2 infection, 6–12 months after exposure.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Study design</jats:title><jats:p>We conducted a multicenter, prospective cohort study with 6- and 12-month follow-up in 14 Canadian tertiary-care pediatric emergency departments (EDs) in the Pediatric Emergency Research Canada network. Eligible children were 6 to &amp;lt;18 years of age who were tested for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. We assessed the score validity and reliability and evaluated the associations between PASC index scores dichotomized using threshold values (≥5.5 for ages 6 to &amp;lt;12 years and ≥5.0 for ages 12 to &amp;lt;18 years) and SARS-CoV-2 infection.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Participants included 785 children, with a median age of 9 years (IQR: 7–13), enrolled between August 2020 and February 2022. Factor analysis identified characteristics that accounted for 32%–40% of variance. Strong correlations were identified between PASC index scores and PedsQL™ and overall health status; Cronbach's <jats:italic>α</jats:italic> ranged from 0.49 to 0.67. Changes in PASC index scores across time points accounted for 71% (6 to &amp;lt;12 years) and 63% (12 to &amp;lt;18 years) of total variance. The proportion of children exceeding PASC index score thresholds did not differ between children positive and negative for SARS-CoV-2 test in the 6 to &amp;lt;12 (25% vs. 22%; aOR: 1.2; 95% CI: 0.6, 2.5) and 12 to &amp;lt;18 (18% vs. 10%; aOR: 2.2; 95% CI: 0.5, 10.4) age groups at 6 months. Similar results were reported at 12 months.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p>While scores correlated with quality of life and overall health, internal reliability was low to acceptable. The PASC index was not associated with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection.</jats:p></jats:sec>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"41000183","pmcid":"PMC12459272","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4414089768","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Canadian Institutes of Health Research","grant_id":"unidentified","title":"unidentified"}],"total_grants":1,"fwci":0.0,"citation_percentile":0.29167612,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2025.1628826/pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2025.1628826/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fped.2025.1628826/full","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2025.1628826","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41000183","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/103ec71136f1422a96b0dc8548641af8","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/12459272","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12459272/","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12459272","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC12459272?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41000183/","host_type":""}],"fields_of_study":["Long-Term Effects of COVID-19","Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Disorders","Pharmacological Receptor Mechanisms and Effects"],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":["Index (typography)","Reliability (semiconductor)","Quality of life (healthcare)","Quality (philosophy)","Severity of illness","MEDLINE","Pediatric","Emergency Department","Index Score","Sars-cov-2","Post-Acute Sequelae Of Sars-Cov-2","Pediatrics"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[{"name":"doi"}],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-05T22:06:06.578303Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}