Long COVID, a complex constellation of lingering or new post-infection symptoms that can last for months or longer, has become one of the most daunting legacies of the pandemic.
A long COVID patient in Burr Ridge, Illinois, receives physical therapy. Researchers plan to continue to track patients to see how long their symptoms last. More than three-quarters of Americans diagnosed with long COVID were not sick enough to be hospitalized for their initial infection, a new analysis of tens of thousands of private insurance claims reported Wednesday.
The study adds to a growing body of evidence that, while patients who have been hospitalized are at greater risk for long COVID, people with mild or moderate initial coronavirus infections — who make up the vast majority of coronavirus patients — can still experience debilitating post-COVID symptoms including breathing problems, extreme fatigue, and cognitive and memory issues.
Dr. Claire Steves, a clinical academic and physician at King’s College London, who was not involved in the new research, said the overall number of people who received the diagnosis was huge, given the study covered only the first four months after the diagnostic code was introduced and did not include people covered by government health programs like Medicaid or Medicare . “That’s probably a drop in the ocean compared to what the real number is,” Steves said.
The researchers plan to continue to track the patients to see how long their symptoms last, but Robin Gelburd, president of FAIR Health, said the organization decided to publish data from the first four months now, “given the urgency” of the issue.
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