Two years after the start of the pandemic, an estimated 180 children are being treated for long-term symptoms after covid-19 infection in hospitals in the metropolitan regions, according to a survey conducted by SVT Nyheter.

New figures from the National Board of Health and Welfare now show that an estimated 30,000 people have been cared for for postcovid in primary care and 5,700 patients in specialized care between October 2020 and October 2021.

According to the National Board of Health and Welfare's statistics, 313 children up to the age of 17 have been diagnosed with postcovid in specialized care between October 2020 and 9 February this year.

Large school absenteeism

The vast majority of children cope easily with the covid infection and do not get any persistent symptoms, but those who live with postcovid have a harder time.  

- It has a big impact on the school and we hear from the parents that the treatment from there can look quite different, says Ingrid Almén Uvnäs, pediatrician at Skåne University Hospital.

Henrik Gustafsson estimates that his daughter Inez has missed half of her schooling over the past two years.

She still has symptoms but is being medicated with beta-blockers for heart attacks, and they both think she has gotten a little better from that.

- I think it's sad to have missed so much because I like to go to school and meet friends, and it's fun to learn, she says.

"Taught us a lot"

In April last year, the National Board of Health and Welfare described the state of knowledge for how to investigate and treat children with postcovid as weak.

But since then, several specialist clinics have opened. 

- We have not come to an understanding of the mechanisms behind it, but we have come a long way in seeing what interventions support patients, says Per Ertzgaard, chief physician at the Rehabilitation Medicine Clinic in Linköping.

The search pressure has decreased

The National Board of Health and Welfare sees a reduction in new postcovid patients during the autumn, which is also noticeable at the clinics at Astrid Lindgren's Children's Hospital, Umeå University Hospital and the Pediatric and Adolescent Medical Clinics in Gothenburg.

They now state that fewer patients are seeking or being referred to them recently.

But what it is due to is not known.

- You can think of different explanations for it.

Either that primary care has become more accustomed to receiving patients or that a large number of children and young people over the age of 12 have been vaccinated, says Olof Hertting.

- It is too early to say whether omikron has affected as that mutation has not been in circulation for so long, says Deborah Frithiof

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pediatrician in Umeå.

"Life has become a little more boring" - see Inez Gustafsson tell about how her life has changed in the video above.