Methods of Pediatric Post–COVID Condition Studies in High-Impact Journals

What are the characteristics of studies examining post–COVID condition in pediatric populations?In this systematic review of 24 studies, 9 (38%) used test-negative controls and 15 (63%) did not. Among test-negative control studies, 4 (44%) used prospective designs vs 5 (33%) that did not, 4 (17%) used matched controls, and 1 (11%) accounted for confounders by sex-stratification.These findings suggest that studies examining post–COVID condition in children often lack test-negative groups and methods to minimize bias, which limits the ability to make accurate conclusions about post–COVID condition in pediatric populations.

Corresponding Author: Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, Mission Bay Campus, Mission Hall: Global Health and Clinical Sciences Building, 550 16th St, 2nd Fl, San Francisco, CA 94158 (vinayak.prasad@ucsf.edu).

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