Long COVID, also known as Post-COVID Conditions, was first reported anecdotally in April 2020 and has continued to cause significant suffering and disability in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.1 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines long COVID as "signs, symptoms, and conditions that continue or develop after acute COVID-19 infection" and notes that long COVID encompasses a wide range of symptoms that can last for weeks, months, or years.2 The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) estimates that 6.9 percent of adults have ever had long COVID as of early 2023 and finds differences by sex, age group, race and ethnicity, and preexisting chronic conditions.3 Similarly, the 2022 National Health Interview Survey estimates that 6.9 percent of adults in the United States ever had long COVID, with differences observed by sex, age group, race and ethnicity, poverty status, and urbanicity.4 An analysis of the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System estimates that 6.4 percent of adults in the United States ever had long COVID and finds variation by state.5 [Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality]
Highlights
Among adults who reported ever having COVID-19:
- 13.7 percent reported ever having long COVID.
- Women were more likely than men to report ever having long COVID (16.5% vs. 10.5%).
- Adults aged 18-34 were less likely than all other age groups to report ever having long COVID (9.8% vs. 13.5%-17.9%).
- Adults living in high-income households were less likely to report ever having long COVID (11.0%) than those living in middle-income households (15.6%), low-income or near poor households (17.4%), and those living in poor households (17.2%).
- Adults living in a metropolitan statistical area reported lower rates of ever having long COVID than those living outside of a metropolitan statistical area (12.7% vs. 19.7%).
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