The epidemiology of long COVID in US adults.

Overview

BACKGROUND: We estimated the prevalence of long COVID and impact on daily living among a representative sample of adults in the United States (US). METHODS: We conducted a population-representative survey, June 30-July 2, 2022, of a random sample of 3,042 United States adults aged 18 years or older and weighted to the 2020 US population. Using questions developed by the United Kingdom's Office of National Statistics, we estimated the prevalence of long COVID, by sociodemographics, adjusting for gender and age. RESULTS: An estimated 7.3% (95% CI: 6.1-8.5%) of all respondents reported long COVID, corresponding to approximately 18,828,696 adults. One-quarter (25.3% [18.2-32.4%]) of respondents with long COVID reported their day-to-day activities were impacted 'a lot' and 28.9% had SARS-CoV-2 infection >12 months ago. The prevalence of long COVID was higher among respondents who were female (aPR: 1.84 [1.40-2.42]), had comorbidities (aPR: 1.55 [1.19-2.00]) or were not (versus were) boosted (aPR: 1.67 [1.19-2.34]) or not vaccinated (versus boosted) (aPR: 1.41 (1.05-1.91)). CONCLUSIONS: We observed a high burden of long COVID, substantial variability in prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and risk factors unique from SARS-CoV-2 risk, suggesting areas for future research. Population-based surveys are an important surveillance tool and supplement to ongoing efforts to monitor long COVID.