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

Julia Marnin
·4 min read

Long COVID — a condition in which virus symptoms persist after the coronavirus infection — is not exclusive to those who experience a severe case of the virus.

In fact, most people diagnosed with long COVID, roughly 76%, were never hospitalized after they got sick with COVID-19, a new study published as a white paper on May 18 has found.

In the analysis, researchers examined health care claims data of 78,252 patients officially diagnosed with long COVID from Oct. 1, 2021 until Jan. 31, 2022, according to work by the nonprofit FAIR Health. The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed.

The top three symptoms these patients experienced post-COVID across all age groups were breathing abnormalities, cough, and malaise and fatigue, the research found.

Those ages 36 to 50 are the most likely to be diagnosed with long COVID, according to the study. Additionally, female patients are more likely than males to experience the condition.

“Post-COVID conditions have become an issue of growing national concern,” FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd said in a statement.

The symptoms can linger for weeks, or even as long as years, after an infection with “new, returning or ongoing health problems,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition is also commonly called “long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19” as well as “chronic COVID.”

It has been described as the “pandemic after the pandemic” by the Director of Cleveland Clinic’s post-COVID reCOVer Clinic, Dr. Kristin Englund, who was cited in the study.

A prior study conducted by FAIR Health found 19% of people who did not initially experience symptoms during their COVID-19 infection developed long COVID afterward, McClatchy News previously reported.

Common symptoms shared by long COVID patients

In this new study, of the 78,252 patients who received the long COVID diagnosis, 59.8% were female and 40.2% were male. About 30% of these patients “had no identified preexisting chronic comorbidities.”

Those who weren’t hospitalized with their initial COVID-19 infection include 81.6% of females and 67.5% of male, according to the study.

Overall, the study ranked 15 symptoms “most commonly co-occurring” with long COVID in order of most prevalent:

  • Breathing abnormalities

  • Cough

  • Malaise and fatigue

  • Hypertensive diseases

  • Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol)

  • Pain in throat and chest

  • Generalized anxiety disorder

  • Asthma

  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus

  • Abnormalities of heartbeat

  • Overweight and obesity

  • Sleep disorders

  • General symptoms

  • Respiratory failure

  • Circulatory and respiratory related symptoms

Certain symptoms were seen more often in particular age groups.

The study found long COVID patients ages 0 to 12 were more likely to experience multisystem inflammatory syndrome, “a rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19 in which different body parts become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs,” according to the CDC.

Meanwhile, those ages 13 to 22 commonly experienced heartbeat abnormalities, according to the research. Patients aged 23 to 35 saw higher rates of generalized anxiety disorder and those 65 and older had hypertensive diseases as a more common post-COVID symptom.

Additionally, certain muscular diseases occurred in long COVID patients “11.1 more often than in the same population prior to COVID-19,” the study noted.

One limitation of the study was how it only examined data of patients with private health insurance. This means it did not include data on many insured by Medicare Parts A, B and D, according to FAIR Health.

Responding to long COVID

On April 5, President Joe Biden ordered the Secretary of Health and Human Services to coordinate a “Government-wide response to the long-term effects of COVID-19,” according to a memorandum.

As a result, a public report to outline “services and mechanisms of support across agencies to assist” those who reside in the U.S. dealing with long COVID should be published by the Secretary of Health and Human Services within 120 days of April 5.

Another new study on long COVID found that vaccination may help symptoms subside, Bloomberg reported. This study was published on May 18 in the peer-reviewed BMJ journal.

“The likelihood of long covid symptoms was observed to decrease after covid-19 vaccination and evidence suggested sustained improvement after a second dose,” the research concluded. Researchers looked at symptoms only after the first and second vaccination doses, so the study did not determine whether additional or booster doses would show a similar alleviating effect.

“If you have long COVID symptoms, you should seek care,” Dr. Devang Sanghavi, who is a member of the American Medical Association, said in an interview with the organization.

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