Investigating the Long-Term Impact of COVID-19 on Children’s Hearts

Most children with life-threatening heart inflammation stemming from COVID-19 tend to recover within six months of infection, according to a multicenter study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a life-threatening complication resulting from COVID-19 infection which can cause heart inflammation, stroke and kidney failure. While the condition can be treated with anti-inflammatory medication, research on the long-term outcomes of MIS-C has been scarce, said Pei-Ni Jone, ’01 MD, professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Cardiology and a co-author of the study.

“We quickly learned that MIS-C patients who were very sick and admitted to the intensive care unit responded to anti-inflammatory medications,” said Jone, who is also medical director of Echocardiography at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “This study was needed to follow these patients and see how they did over a longer period of time.”

In the study, Jone and her collaborators collected heart function data on children with MIS-C from hospitals across the country. After six months of periodic monitoring of their heart function and other health metrics, investigators found that most children returned to pre-infection heart function, according to the study.

“The study showed us that at six months, their heart function, coronary artery function and their energy levels have all recovered,” Jone said.

Moving forward, Jone and her collaborators hope to further study the long-term impacts of severe COVID infections in children.

The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants HL135680, HL135685, HL135683, HL135689, HL135646, HL135665, HL135678, HL135682 and HL135666, as well as HL135691 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.