1 in 5 adults may develop long COVID symptoms after infection, CDC says

Julia Marnin
·2 min read

About 1 in 5 adults may develop at least one long COVID-19 symptom after having a coronavirus infection, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research published Tuesday, May 24.

For those 65 and older, the risk of developing at least one “post-COVID condition” is slightly higher and may affect 1 in 4 people, the CDC said.

Meanwhile, it is twice as likely for adults 18 and older who get over COVID-19 to develop pulmonary embolism — a traveling blood clot that forms somewhere in the body and moves to block a lung artery — or respiratory troubles, according to the CDC report.

Based on the findings, the agency advises “routine assessment for post-COVID conditions among” those who recover from the virus and especially for adults older than 65.

The most common long COVID-19 conditions in all adult patients were found to be “respiratory symptoms and musculoskeletal pain,” the study noted.

Long COVID-19 symptoms can linger for weeks, or even years, after an infection with “new, returning or ongoing health problems,” the agency says.

The condition doesn’t just affect those who developed a severe case of the virus, McClatchy News previously reported. Most diagnosed with it were never hospitalized after they got sick, according to research published by the nonprofit FAIR Health on May 18.

More on the CDC study

In the research, the CDC examined the electronic health record data of 353,164 adults previously diagnosed with COVID-19 from Cerner Real-World Data during March 2020, when the pandemic was declared, until November 2021. A total of 26 health conditions “often attributable to post-COVID” were analyzed.

Among all the patients, researchers found these “conditions affected multiple systems, and included cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic, renal, endocrine, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, neurologic, and psychiatric signs and symptoms.”

Those 65 and older had a higher risk of developing neurological symptoms and mental health conditions such as anxiety, the research said.

One study limitation included how the data on patients analyzed in the study came solely from those who visited health care networks that use Cerner electronic health records, according to the CDC.

“The findings might not be representative of the entire U.S. adult population or of COVID-19 case patients infected with recent variants,” because the data was examined only up until November 2021, the agency said.

In the U.S., omicron and its subvariants dominate virus cases, according to CDC data estimates. The BA.2.12.1 subvariant makes up the majority of cases as of May 21.

Ultimately, the study’s “findings are consistent with those from several large studies that indicated that post-COVID incident conditions occur in 20%–30% of patients and that a proportion of patients require expanded follow-up care after the initial infection,” CDC researchers wrote.

The agency predicted that the number of people living with long COVID-19 symptoms is “likely to increase.”

Long COVID isn’t just after severe cases — most were never hospitalized, study finds

How many Americans have had COVID? New CDC study suggests most have contracted it

Traveling this summer? CDC recommends everyone test for COVID in days before flying

Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: long COVID, more free tests, booster shots for kids

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories

  • Andrew Nembhard's late 3 gives Pacers 111-106 victory over Knicks. Indiana moves within 2-1

    INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Nembhard made a 31-foot, tiebreaking 3-pointer with 16 seconds left, Tyrese Haliburton scored 35 points and the Indiana Pacers rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the banged-up and short-handed New York Knicks 111-106 on Friday night in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Knicks still lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Sunday in Indianapolis. New York led by nine with 9:45 remaining and was in position to take a commanding 3-0 lead, bu

  • Panthers take a 2-1 series lead over the Bruins, scoring 4 power-play goals in a 6-2 victory

    Vladimir Tarasenko and Carter Verhaeghe scored on the same Bruins double-minor, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 14 shots and the Florida Panthers beat Boston 6-2 on Friday night and take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal series. Evan Rodrigues scored twice, and Brandon Montour also connected for the Panthers, who have won back-to-back games after dropping the opener at home.

  • Suárez throws 7 scoreless innings, Castellanos and Rojas homer in Phillies 8-2 win over Marlins

    MIAMI (AP) — Ranger Suárez pitched seven scoreless innings, Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas hit solo homers, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Miami Marlins 8-2 Friday night. The game was played in front of a crowd of 15,119, the majority appearing to cheer for Philadelphia in Miami's first home game since trading two-time batting champion Luis Arraez to the Padres on May 4. Before the game, a handful of longtime Marlins fans gathered outside loanDepot Park to protest the state of the fran

  • Compher scores late, Campbell makes 21 saves for 2nd straight shutout as Toronto beats Minnesota 2-0

    TORONTO (AP) — Jesse Compher scored the go-ahead goal with 1:25 left in the game and Toronto beat Minnesota 2-0 on Friday night to take 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Professional Women’s Hockey League playoff semifinal series. Hannah Miller added an empty-netter with 10 seconds to play for top-seeded Toronto and Kristen Campbell earned her second straight shutout with 21 saves. Maddie Rooney stopped 28 shots for Minnesota. Game 3 is scheduled for Monday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesot

  • Crochet strikes out 11 to help the White Sox beat the Guardians 6-3

    CHICAGO (AP) — Garrett Crochet struck out 11 in six shutout innings and the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Guardians 6-3 on Friday night for their third consecutive victory. Taking advantage of a costly error on second baseman Gabriel Arias, Chicago improved to 8-6 since its ugly 3-22 start. Korey Lee and Paul DeJong hit back-to-back homers in the seventh, and Andrew Vaughn went deep in the eighth for his first of the season. Crochet (3-4) allowed five hits and walked none in his second st

  • Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl to play in Game 2 against Canucks

    VANCOUVER — Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl will play in Game 2 against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night. The 28-year-old German forward will start the game on a line with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman. Draisaitl said earlier in the day that he would be a "game time decision" after appearing to labour late in Edmonton's dramatic 5-4 loss to the Canucks Wednesday. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game the star forward was dealing with "cramping and equipment issues." Drais

  • Americans spending $33.5 billion for Mother's Day this year

    Mother's Day is around the corner and ABC15 is taking a look at how much Americans spend on the moms in our lives.

  • Family mourns teen killed in motorcycle crash

    Family and friends are mourning a teen killed in a motorcycle crash in Vista on Thursday.

  • Patrick Corbin gets 1st win of season, Nationals beat Red Sox 5-1

    BOSTON (AP) — Patrick Corbin allowed one run in five innings for his first victory of the season, Trey Lipscomb had a two-run single and the Washington Nationals beat the Boston Red Sox 5-1 on Friday night. Corbin (1-3) allowed seven hits and a walk and had four strikeouts in lowering his ERA from 6.45 to 5.91. He allowed runners to reach in four of five innings, helped in the first when right fielder Victor Robles threw out a runner at home for the final out. Robles and Eddie Rosario each had t

  • ‘Mary & George’ Gets Even More Morbid, If You Can Believe It

    StarzEngland may have narrowly avoided a war with Spain in last week’s episode of Mary & George. But in Episode 6—the penultimate installment of the deliciously deviant limited series—the country, and all of the self-serving characters who inhabit it, are critically injured and bleeding out regardless. The constant power struggles fought by the malevolent matriarch Mary Villiers (Julianne Moore) and her equally capricious son George (Nicholas Galitzine) have waned now that they have gotten used

  • Northern Lights forecast: When and where to see the solar storm in UK

    The most powerful solar storm in almost 20 years hit Earth on Friday night, with the Northern Lights visible across much of the UK.

  • US energy secretary to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE next week, officials say

    The visit will run from Tuesday through Thursday, with Granholm visiting the UAE first, one of the officials said. "Specifically, for the Department of Energy, it will move forward work both countries are doing on climate cooperation and to diversify the energy economy." Granholm will participate in a meeting of the Net-Zero Producers Forum, a group of countries representing 40% of global oil and gas production, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the sources said.

  • BREAKING: Four universities in Halifax release memorandum to school administrators: divest and disclose funding ties to Israel

    On Friday, May 10, student groups from four Halifax universities–NSCAD, Dal, King’s and SMU–formed a shared group online, called Students for the Liberation of Palestine. In a post, they call on their universities “to immediately disclose and divest from any investments that sustain settler-colonial projects, including the Zionist state known as Israel.” A post shared by Students for the Liberation of Palestine - Kjipuktuk/Halifax (@students4liberatedpalestinehfx) As of this article’s publicatio

  • Clarke Schmidt helps pitch Yankees past Rays while matching longest career outing

    TAMPA, Fla. — Clarke Schmidt has made it known that he wants to go deeper into games. He did exactly that on Friday, blanking the Rays for 6 2/3 innings at Tropicana Field in a 2-0 Yankees win. The series-opening outing matched the longest of Schmidt’s career and set a new standard for the 28-year-old this season. Coincidentally, Schmidt’s only other 6 2/3-inning performance came in Tampa last ...

  • ‘Stunning’ Northern Lights spotted across the UK

    The Aurora Borealis has been spotted in Whitley Bay on the north east coast, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Wokingham in Berkshire.

  • Sean Burroughs, Gold Medalist and Former MLB First-Round Pick, Died Before Heading to Coach Son's Little League Game

    The former MLB player died of cardiac arrest on Thursday, his mother said

  • Three women rescue neighbor from potential murder

    Three women at a salon save their neighbor from two crazed attackers and help police arrest them.

  • What to know about northern lights in California

    Parts of the country, including Northern California, could see the Northern Lights on Friday because of a severe solar storm.

  • Toddler dies in first US hot car death of 2024. Is there technology that can help save kids?

    After a 3-year-old becomes the first hot car death of 2024, tensions grow over what technology could have saved her.

  • When the Panthers needed it most, the power play came through in Game 3 win vs Boston

    The Panthers scored four power-play goals to build a lead they wouldn’t relinquish and take a 2-1 series lead on the Bruins.