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Equity in research: a global consensus statement on the urgency of including children in long COVID clinical trials
ExtractLong COVID, a post-acute infection syndrome triggered by SARS-CoV-2, is now recognised as a major cause of disability worldwide [1], affecting both children and adults. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines long COVID in children as: “new onset of symptoms impacting everyday functioning that last at least 2 months, occurring within 3 months of probable or confirmed acute SARS-CoV-2 infection” [2]. While elegantly designed clinical trials have been established to identify effective treatments for long COVID, children are notably excluded. We propose that inclusion of children in long COVID clinical trials is justified, and unwarranted age-related exclusion criteria for current clinical trial designs impose unintentional and unnecessary barriers to treatment for children with long COVID.