# Functional Limitations and Illness-Related Absenteeism among School-Aged Children with and without Long COVID, United States, 2022–2023

## TL;DR

This study finds that children with long COVID in the US are more likely to have functional limitations and miss school due to health issues compared to those without long COVID.

## Contribution

The study provides new evidence linking long COVID in children to increased functional limitations and chronic absenteeism.

## Key findings

- Approximately 1.4% of school-aged children in the US had long COVID at some point.
- Children with long COVID were more likely to report functional limitations like memory difficulties compared to those without long COVID.
- Long COVID was associated with higher odds of illness-related chronic absenteeism in school.

## Abstract

We examined functional limitations and illness-related chronic absenteeism (i.e., missing >18 days of school for health reasons) in a cross-sectional nationally representative sample of 11,057 US children 5–17 years of age who ever or never had long COVID (i.e., symptoms lasting >3 months after COVID-19 illness). Among 4,587 children with prior COVID-19, we estimated whether long COVID was associated with increased illness-related chronic absenteeism by using logistic regression. Our analysis showed that ≈1.4% of school-aged children had long COVID at some point. Among children with prior COVID-19, those who had long COVID at some point more frequently reported functional limitations, such as difficulty with memory, than those who did not have long COVID (18.3% vs. 8.6%). Having long COVID was associated with higher odds of illness-related chronic absenteeism. Children who had long COVID could experience functional limitations and absenteeism. School accommodations might be an option to improve functional limitations.