University of Alberta researchers retract COVID study, citing multiple errors

A University of Alberta study on long COVID in children has been retracted. 

The study found a "strikingly low" incidence of long COVID among children ages eight to 13 who contracted COVID-19.

However, during a review of their results, the authors discovered a key figure was incorrect.

The researchers had focused on a group of 271 children who tested positive for COVID and for whom there was sufficient data to determine the presence of long COVID.

Of that group of kids, only one — or 0.4 per cent — met the World Health Organization's definition of the condition, according to the study.

But after review, the authors found the actual incidence of long COVID in children and teens in the study group, is 1.4 per cent — or four out of 286 rather than one out of 271.

The authors of the article, published in JAMA Pediatrics, requested a retraction because they identified "methodological (analytical) errors" in their original report.

Dr. Piush Mandhane, a professor with the department of pediatrics at the University of Alberta, wrote a retraction note on behalf of his co-authors.

In the note, Mandhane explained that the errors impacted the researchers' estimate of prevalence of long COVID in children and adolescents and the "reported associations between pre- and post-COVID-19 symptoms." 

"We identified a coding error whereby children with missing symptoms data were coded as having no symptoms. This error resulted in two participants being misclassified as having symptom resolution when they should have been classified as having [long COVID]," Mandhane wrote in the retraction note. 

After the original study was published, the authors classified another child as having long COVID.

Other errors included the exclusion of 15 participants who should have been included in the study, and counting participants who fell outside the sample's age range of eight to 13 years old.

"We identified participants with COVID-19 [cases] who were recruited between one and 7.49 years and 14.5 and 19 years of age," Mandhane wrote in the retraction note. 

There were other coding errors.

"We apologize to the readers and editors of JAMA Pediatrics for these errors," Mandhane wrote in the note. 

"In discussion with the editors, who shared their concerns about the analyses and data reported, we are requesting a retraction of our research letter. All the authors of our research letter are in agreement with this retraction," Mandhane wrote. 

JAMA Pediatrics is part of the JAMA Network, a group of medical scientific journals owned and published by the American Medical Association.

JAMA Pediatrics claims its impact factor is 24.7, which makes it the highest ranking pediatrics journal in the world. 

JAMA Network declined to provide comment for this story. 

"We believe the retraction letter from Dr. Mandhane speaks for itself," a public information officer for JAMA said in an email. 

Dr. Kieran Quinn, a clinician-scientist at the Sinai Health System in Toronto, said in an interview that "it's important to acknowledge that research is a very difficult and sometimes messy endeavour."

"I commend the authors on their thoroughness in identifying these errors in their analysis and in transparently fixing them," Quinn said. 

"In this case, they felt, along with the editors of the journal, that the errors were sufficient and numerous enough that they should actually retract the article rather than just correct it and update the analysis, which isn't always the case.

"I think that's actually an acknowledgement that they are good researchers and they're doing this in an ethical and responsible approach."