COVID-19 HEALTH IMPACTS
Prevalence of Long Covid
Apparent prevalence likely varies due to differences in population age and health; method of data collection; which symptoms were considered; time since Covid-19 infection; vaccination status; differences in cultures and beliefs etc
• 1 in 5 (20-30%) develop a new health condition following Covid infection
(Bull-Otterson et al. 2022 doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7121e1)
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• Just below 1 in 10 (9.3%) triple vaccinated people are not recovered 4-8 weeks after Omicron infection in the UK
(ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/selfreportedlongcovidafterinfectionwiththeomicronvariant/6may2022)
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• 2.9 million people of working age in the UK have had, or currently have, Long Covid
(Reuschke and Houston, 202210.1080/13504851.2022.2098239)
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• A survey shows the health of the Swiss population has deteriorated during the pandemic- people describing themselves as unwell rose from 22% in 2020 to 35% in 2022.
(css.ch/de/ueber-css/story/medien-publikationen/medien/medienmitteilungen/css-gesundheitsstudie-2022.html)
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• Long Covid is the USA’s 3rd leading neurological disorder.
(chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/october-2022/the-long-haul/)
The Risk of Getting Long Covid Increases With Each Infection
"The chart shows you the cummulative probability of getting Long Covid at different estimates of risk for each additional new infection. It assumes that the risk does not increase or decrease with each infection but remains the same (some studies have shown it may increase). Different studies have calculated different risks based on different and definitions. One as low as 1%, some as high as 50%. The CDC [America's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention] is 20%."
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Graph via @davidsteadson on Twitter