Study: 14% of adult COVID-19 patients experience long-term symptoms

Editor's Note

JAMA Network published a research article on October 27 showing the long-term effects of COVID-19 on adults in the US and evaluating vaccine effectiveness for lasting symptoms, Health Leaders Media October 28 reports.

The World Health Organization defines symptoms that last for at least 2 months post-infection as long COVID-19. Many of the lasting symptoms are similar to symptoms of initial infection, including shortness of breath, cough, and fatigue.

The research article features data collected from a study of more than 16,000 adults who tested positive for COVID-19 at one point during the pandemic. Among the 16,091 survey respondents, 14.7% reported long COVID-19 symptoms. When this data was re-evaluated for national sociodemographic distributions, these patients represented 13.9% of patients.

The study also found:

• Completion of vaccination before infection was associated with a lower risk of long COVID-19.
• Older age, 40 years and above, was associated with higher risk of long COVID-19.
• Female gender was associated with higher risk of long COVID-19.
• People with higher levels of education were associated with a lower risk of long COVID-19.
• People who lived in urban versus rural areas were associated with a lower risk of long COVID-19.
• Participants affected by long COVID-19 reported that fatigue, loss of smell, brain fog and shortness of breath were the most common symptoms.

Read the full research article here.