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This study examined post-COVID psychiatric symptoms in a pediatric population and explored associated risk factors.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This follow-up study enrolled 107 children and adolescents (6\u201318 years) with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, retrospectively identified from G\u00fclhane Training and Research Hospital records, contacted via telephone, and invited for in-person pediatric examination and Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) screening. Participants with T-scores \u226565 were referred to Gazi University for face-to-face psychiatric evaluation by child psychiatrists using DSM-5 criteria. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were analyzed for associations with elevated RCADS scores. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed using DSM-5\u2013based clinical diagnoses as the reference standard.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The cohort included 62 females (57.9%) and 45 males (42.1%), with a mean age of 12.3\u00b13.1 years. Most participants were symptomatic during infection (90.7%), and 35.5% developed at least one COVID-related complication, most commonly taste loss (29.0%). Post-COVID psychiatric symptoms were reported in 56.1% of cases, predominantly attention difficulties (28.9%) and irritability (23.3%). Approximately half (52.2%) of children without prior history of psychiatric symptoms developed at least one new symptom. Higher anxiety and depression scores were significantly associated with prematurity, birth complications, and pre-existing psychiatric symptoms. In ROC analyses, the parent-reported total anxiety score showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.92 with an optimal cut-off of 60 (sensitivity 81.5%, specificity 93.8%), while the child-reported score showed an AUC of 0.90 with an optimal cut-off of 65 (sensitivity 70.4%, specificity 93.8%). Children without psychiatric history had significantly lower scores (p &lt; 0.001).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>COVID-19 was linked to increased psychiatric symptoms in children, with prematurity, birth complications, and prior history as key risks. RCADS proved sensitive for screening, emphasizing targeted interventions post-infection.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Clinical trial number<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Not applicable.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12888-026-08217-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,23]],"date-time":"2026-05-23T04:46:52Z","timestamp":1779511612000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Post-infectious psychiatric symptoms and diagnoses in children and adolescents following COVID-19"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7135-2981","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mehmet","family":"Cengiz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7759-3631","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"\u015eefika Nurh\u00fcda Karaca","family":"Cengiz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4015-4210","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ay\u015fe","family":"B\u00fcy\u00fckcam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6653-0045","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmet","family":"Bolat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5432-8624","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"B\u00fclent","family":"\u00dcnay","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4922-7594","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yasemin Ta\u015f","family":"Torun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"8217_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e2418204","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2024.18204","volume":"7","author":"K Auro","year":"2024","unstructured":"Auro K, Holopainen I, Perola M, Havulinna AS, Raevuori A. 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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and their legal guardians prior to inclusion. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Gazi University Faculty of Medicine (approval number: 2022\u2009\u2212\u2009167).","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent for publication","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}],"article-number":"548"}}