INTRODUCTION
Since emerging in November 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) has rapidly spread worldwide, causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although patients of all ages are affected, the illness among children and adolescents is generally milder compared to adults, with up to 66% being asymptomatic 1. Unlike children and adolescents, the majority of infants have been reported to be symptomatic, with fever, upper respiratory symptoms, and decreased oral intake being the most common clinical features 2.
While the acute-phase illness of SARS-CoV-2 is well established, understanding its long-term consequence and its effect on chronic lung morbidity is still evolving. Previous studies have evaluated pulmonary function tests (PFT) in patients post SARS-Cov-2 infection to objectively assess the long-term respiratory influence of the virus. In adults, a reduction in diffusion capacity was the main finding, significantly correlated to the severity of the acute illness3–5. Only a limited number of studies evaluated PFT in pediatric patients following a SARS-Cov-2 infection. Unlike in adults, these studies did not identify any abnormality in expiratory flows, lung volumes or diffusion capacity 6–9.
To our knowledge, despite significant respiratory COVID-19-symptoms reported in infants, no study has explored PFT in this age group, following an infection. The aim of this study was to assess whether SARS-Cov-2 infection has long term effects on pulmonary functions in infants.