Study: 1 in 8 Coronavirus Patients Will Develop Long COVID

Study authors said the estimate is reliable because they examined symptoms before COVID-19 infection and in uninfected populations for comparison.

Workers at a drive-up COVID-19 testing clinic stand in a tent as they prepare PCR coronavirus tests in Puyallup, Wash.(TED S. WARREN/AP)

About 1 in 8 adults who get infected with the coronavirus will develop symptoms of long COVID-19, according to a new Dutch study.


Study authors said their estimate is more reliable than previous ones because it looked at prevalence and severity of symptoms before COVID-19 infection and in uninfected populations for comparison.



“By looking at symptoms in an uninfected control group and in individuals both before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection, we were able to account for symptoms which may have been a result of non-infectious disease health aspects of the pandemic, such as stress caused by restrictions and uncertainty,” study author Aranka Ballering said in a statement, referring to the virus by its scientific name.


With millions of people still getting infected with the coronavirus each week and reinfections becoming more common, the study signals that long COVID will continue to be a challenge for public health policy and the economy.


The study, which was published Thursday in the journal The Lancet, listed core symptoms of long COVID as “chest pain, difficulties with breathing, lump in throat, pain when breathing, painful muscles, heavy arms or legs, ageusia or anosmia, feeling hot and cold alternately, tingling extremities and general tiredness.”


It examined over 4,200 participants who had COVID-19 and more than 8,400 people who weren’t infected who made up the control group. Of the adults who had COVID-19, 21% reported at least one new or worsening symptom three to five months after infection. That’s compared to nearly 9% in the control group, suggesting over 12% of COVID-19 patients experienced symptoms of long COVID.

Researchers did not examine the cause of long COVID or the effect vaccination or different coronavirus variants had on cases of long COVID.



“Future research should include mental health symptoms (e.g. depression and anxiety symptoms), along with additional post-infectious symptoms that we could not assess in this study (such as brain fog, insomnia, and post-exertional malaise),” Judith Rosmalen, another author of the study, said in a statement. “We were unable to investigate what might cause any of the symptoms observed after COVID-19 in this study, but we hope future research will be able to give insights into the mechanisms involved.”


In a commentary published alongside the study, Christopher Brightling and Rachael Evans of the Leicester Institute for Lung Health wrote that the report was a “major” advancement in long COVID prevalence estimates because it included a “matched uninfected group and accounts for symptoms before COVID-19 infection.”


The study has limitations, including that it examined people before the delta or omicron waves and didn’t include some symptoms – like brain fog – that have since been associated with long COVID. Additionally, the research was performed in one region and did not include an ethnically diverse population.





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