Coronavirus: Containment more traumatic than it seems for children according to the first results of a study

Launched a month ago by the Toulouse University Hospital, the E-COCCON study has so far collected some 300 testimonials from children aged 8 to 15 and their parents. The first results show that containment created trauma

If fewer than 20 patients are hospitalized today at the Toulouse University Hospital because of Covid-19, the coronavirus continues to occupy the nursing staff. Or rather its consequences. There are the patients on whom he left respiratory or neurological after-effects, but also many people who suffer the psychological backlash.

In recent days, the Samu has taken care of more patients who have suffered from decompensation. “The effects of deconfinement are badly experienced by part of the population. Chronic patients have thus decompensated, some are afraid of people and were not so bad at home, locked up, ”notes Vincent Bounes, the assistant chief of emergencies.

While some have decided to let go of the bridle and celebrate the end of this era of deprivation of liberty – sometimes a little too much – for others it is, therefore, a source of anxiety and anxiety. A cabin syndrome that Isabelle Claudet, head of the children’s department at the Toulouse University Hospital, has also identified in the testimonies she has already collected as part of her E-COCCON study.

Launched just over a month ago, it aims to detect the effects of confinement in 8-15-year-olds. If some took advantage of this period to become kings of pastry or scrapbooking, for others these two months locked away from their friends was not an easy task.

Anger, poor sleep

To date, specialists have received 324 testimonies from children and their parents. “What stands out is that it has not been well experienced by everyone. There is a good proportion with criteria of post-traumatic stress, even if they had good conditions of confinement, that they were for some in houses with gardens to ventilate “, notes Isabelle Claudet who hopes be able to include a few more families.

These answer a series of questions from a grid that has already proven itself in post-disaster studies. “Do you have nightmares? “Or” Do you avoid watching or even talking about programs on the coronavirus? Are part of the series.

“In some people, this stress has resulted in sleep disturbances, anger or even the refusal to talk about things that are reminiscent of the COVID. Others are at home too and no longer want to leave. What surprised us was the proportion of criteria for post-traumatic stress even if we knew that confinement was favourable, “explains the pediatrician who knows that beyond 10 days of confinement, the risks are higher. Not to mention the fact that for several weeks there was no response on a delay in returning to normal life.

The results will soon complement those of other studies launched in Toulouse and which focus on the experiences of children under the age of six or the effects of this confinement on adults. As well as another with residents of Ehpad who have experienced “moral pain”. A material that is certainly inexhaustible.