Coronavirus does not impact young people’s lung function after infection, new analysis suggests.

       Researchers assessed data from more than 660 people born between 1994 and 1996.

       The young adults, who were enrolled in a study in Stockholm, were examined pre-pandemic between 2016 and 2019, and again between October 2020 and May 2021, including an assessment of lung function and inflammation.

       More than a quarter (27 per cent) of those studied tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies, indicating that they had previously been infected.

       Researchers said the lung function in the participants was similar regardless of Covid-19 infection.

       Dr Ida Mogensen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, said: “When we included 123 participants with asthma in the analysis, the 24 per cent who had had Covid-19 tended towards having a slightly lower lung function, but this was not statistically significant.”

       She added the results are “reassuring for young adults”, but said more analysis was needed of the asthma group.

       A separate study, from University Children’s Hospital, Ruhr-University-Bochum, Germany, assessed data from 73 children and teenagers, aged five to 18, between August 2020 and March 2021.

       Lung function tests were conducted between two weeks and six months after Covid-19 infection and compared with the results of a control group of 45 children who had not been infected.

       Researchers also found no statistically significant difference between the two groups.

       Dr Anne Schlegtendal, author of the study, said it was important to assess long-term effects of Covid-19 infection on children and young people as they remain at risk of infection, but vaccines are “predominantly reserved for adults and high-risk groups”.

       Both studies were presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress, which was held virtually.