Most children have a mild course of acute COVID-19. Only few mainly non-controlled studies with small sample size have evaluated long-term recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection in children. The aim of this study was to evaluate symptoms and duration of ‘long COVID’ in children. A nationwide cohort study of 37,522 children aged 0–17 years with RT-PCR verified SARS-CoV-2 infection (response rate 44.9%) and a control group of 78,037 children (response rate 21.3%). An electronic questionnaire was sent to all children from March 24th until May 9th, 2021. Symptoms lasting > 4 weeks were common among both SARS-CoV-2 children and controls. However, SARS-CoV-2 children aged 6–17 years reported symptoms more frequently than the control group (percent difference 0.8%). The most reported symptoms among pre-school children were fatigue Risk Difference (RD) 0.05 (CI 0.04–0.06), loss of smell RD 0.01 (CI 0.01–0.01), loss of taste RD 0.01 (CI 0.01–0.02) and muscle weakness RD 0.01 (CI 0.00–0.01). Among school children the most significant symptoms were loss of smell RD 0.12 (CI 0.12–0.13), loss of taste RD 0.10 (CI 0.09–0.10), fatigue RD 0.05 (CI 0.05–0.06), respiratory problems RD 0.03 (CI 0.03–0.04), dizziness RD 0.02 (CI 0.02–0.03), muscle weakness RD 0.02 (CI 0.01–0.02) and chest pain RD 0.01 (CI 0.01–0.01). Children in the control group experienced significantly more concentration difficulties, headache, muscle and joint pain, cough, nausea, diarrhea and fever than SARS-CoV-2 infected. In most children ‘long COVID’ symptoms resolved within 1–5 months.Conclusions: Long COVID in children is rare and mainly of short duration. What is Known:• There are increasing reports on ‘long COVID’ in adults.• Only few studies have evaluated the long-term recovery from COVID-19 in children, and common for all studies is a small sample size (median number of children included 330), and most lack a control group. What is New:• 0.8% of SARS-CoV-2 positive children reported symptoms lasting >4 weeks (‘long COVID’), when compared to a control group.• The most common ‘long COVID’ symptoms were fatigue, loss of smell and loss of taste, dizziness, muscle weakness, chest pain and respiratory problems.• These ‘long COVID’ symptoms cannot be assigned to psychological sequelae of social restrictions.• Symptoms such as concentration difficulties, headache, muscle- and joint pain as well as nausea are not ‘long COVID’ symptoms.• In most cases ‘long COVID’ symptoms resolve within 1-5 months.

Background: Most children have a mild course of acute COVID-19, but only a few mainly non-controlled studies with small sample size, have evaluated the long-term recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection in children (‘long COVID’).Methods: We conducted a nationwide cohort study of 37,522 children age 0-17 years with RT-PCR verified SARS-CoV-2 infection and a control group of 78,037 randomly selected children. An electronic questionnaire was sent to both groups of children from March 24th until May 9th 2021.Results: Long COVID symptoms were reported by 12-51% of SARS-CoV-2 infected children. Among pre-school children, fatigue Risk Difference (RD) 0.05 (CI 0.04-0.06), loss of smell RD 0.01 (CI 0.01-0.01), loss of taste RD 0.01 (CI 0.01-0.02) and muscle weakness RD 0.01 (CI 0.00-0.01) were statistically significant symptoms of ‘long COVID’.Among school children the most significant symptoms were loss of smell RD 0.12 (CI 0.12-0.13), loss of taste RD 0.10 (CI 0.09-0.10), fatigue RD 0.05 (CI 0.05-0.06), respiratory problems RD 0.03 (CI 0.03-0.04), dizziness RD 0.02 (CI 0.02-0.03), muscle weakness RD 0.02 (CI 0.01-0.02), and chest pain RD 0.01 (CI 0.01-0.01). Children in the control group experienced significantly more concentration difficulties, headache, muscle- and joint pain, cough, nausea, diarrhea and fever than the SARS-CoV-2 infected. In most children ‘long COVID’ symptoms resolved within 1-5 months.Conclusions: This study provides new evidence of ‘long COVID’ symptoms in children.Trial registration number: The study was approved by The Danish Health Data Authority and registered at Central Denmark region (# 1-16-02-621-20).

Aim The aim of this study was to investigate the trends in morbidity and mortality of patients with right-sided colonic cancer who had an emergency surgical procedure in Denmark after the introduction of quality index parameters. Methods This was a retrospective nationwide study based on a prospectively maintained Danish Colorectal Cancer Group database focused on right-sided colonic cancer in the interval from 1 May 2001 to 30 April 2018, who underwent emergency surgical intervention (within 48 h of hospital admission). The primary objective was to investigate the trends in morbidity and mortality throughout the study years. Multivariable estimates were adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, alcohol consumption, ASA score classification, tumour localization, type of access to abdominal cavity, surgeon’s grade of specialization, and metastatic disease. Results Out of 2839 patients, a total of 2740 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria, of whom 2464 underwent right or transverse colon resection (89.9 per cent). The 30-day and 90-day postoperative mortality rates were significantly reduced over the time of the study (OR 0.943, 95 per cent c.i. 0.922 to 0.965, P < 0.001 and OR 0.953, 95 per cent c.i. 0.934 to 0.972, P < 0.001 respectively); however, the complication rates did not follow this trend. Older patients (OR 1.032, 95 per cent c.i. 1.009 to 1.055, P = 0.005) and patients with high ASA scores (OR 1.61, 95 per cent c.i. 1.422 to 1.830, P < 0.001) had higher rates of severe grade 3b postoperative complications. A stoma was constructed in 276 patients (10 per cent), whereas a stent was used in only eight patients. Defunctioning procedures, including stoma construction or colonic stenting (without oncological resection), did not reduce the risk of complications compared with that of definitive surgery. Conclusion The 30-day and 90-day postoperative mortality rates were significantly reduced over the time of the study. Age and ASA score were risk factors for severe postoperative complications.

Background Denmark has one of the highest occurrences of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the world, with reported incidence rates of 7.2 and 6.2 in paediatric ulcerative colitis (pUC) and 10 and 9.4 per 105 for girls and boys in Crohn’s disease (pCD). Incidence rates in adult patients have been reported to be 9.1 and 18.6 per 105 for ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), respectively. We aimed to evaluate the incidence and initial disease presentation of newly diagnosed paediatric and adult IBD patients in the Hvidovre and Herlev Hospital uptake areas, covering approximately 1.050.000 inhabitants, corresponding to ~20% of the Danish population. Methods During a 2-year inclusion period, all incident paediatric (≤18 years of age, pIBD) and adult IBD patients residing in the uptake area at the time of diagnosis are included in a prospective, multicentre, population-based inception cohort (IBD Prognosis Study). The study was initiated on May 1st, 2021. Patients are prospectively followed with regular intestinal biopsies, stool-, serum-, and whole blood samples to analyze biomarkers, microbiome and genetic profiles at predefined time points. Demographics and disease-related characteristics were collected at diagnosis. Incidence was defined as the number of new IBD cases during May 1st – October 31st divided by the total inhabitants covered in included sites during the same period. Results A total of 125 IBD patients were included during the initial six months (table 1). For paediatric patients, the incidence rates were 8.2 and 16.4 per 105 for pUC and pCD. Adult incidence rates were 19.4, 17.0, and 2.4 per 105 for UC, CD and IBD-unclassified (IBD-U), respectively. At diagnosis, extraintestinal manifestations were present in 15% of paediatric and 36% of adult patients. In paediatric patients, 20% and 0% of pUC and pCD had moderate to severe disease activity at diagnosis, based on PUCAI- and PCDAI scores. In adults, 33%, 50% and 50% of UC, CD and IBD-U patients had moderate to severe disease activity at disease onset based on SCCAI- and HBI scores. More extensive disease and increased faecal calprotectin were associated with more severe disease activity in adult UC. CRP correlated positively, while haemoglobin and albumin correlated negatively with UC disease extension. Conclusion The IBD incidence rates in paediatric and adult patients continuously increase in Denmark, thus constituting a substantial burden for the Danish health care system. A large proportion of patients presented with significant symptoms and future findings of this cohort will potentially bring us a better understanding of the heterogeneous course of IBD, including the differential need for, and response to, treatment.