Who's Most at Risk of Long COVID? New Study Finds Possible Key Factors

Nearly one in five U.S. adults still have long COVID symptoms, according to a recent survey by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Long COVID symptoms vary from fatigue and brain fog to skin rashes and shortness of breath. But scientists are still unsure how people develop these symptoms and whether certain risk factors lead to the condition.

Researchers in the United Kingdom recently gathered data from 1.1 million anonymous electronic healthcare records and analyzed almost 7,000 individuals who had COVID-19.

Of the people who reported having had COVID-19, around 8–17% of them had symptoms for longer than 12 weeks. However, only 0.4% of the people in the health records had an official long COVID diagnosis.

Factors such as increasing age, being female, poor pre-pandemic general and mental health, asthma, and obesity were associated with a higher risk of developing long COVID.

Although this is an observational study that cannot conclude a causal relationship between these factors and long COVID, the findings help identify potential key risk factors.

“The main purpose of studies like this is to find out what questions to ask next," Claire Steves, PhD, study author and senior clinical lecturer at King’s College London, told Verywell. "These factors are like pointers, which guide the research community to investigate further.”

The new findings are generally consistent with previous studies. For example, older adults and people who have pre-existing conditions were more likely to have lasting symptoms, and women were found to be 22% more likely to experience long COVID than men.

A smaller study published in January found four other factors that may be linked to a higher likelihood of long COVID, including a high viral load during the course of infection, reactivated Epstein-Barr virus, having type 2 diabetes, and the presence of specific autoantibodies.

While the mechanism behind long COVID is still being researched, getting vaccinated and boosted is the best way to avoid developing this condition, said Irfan Hafiz, MD, chief medical officer and infectious diseases specialist at Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital.

Existing research also shows that COVID-19 vaccination—whether it’s before or after getting infected—may help reduce the risk of long COVID.

“If you are in the high-risk groups for complications, including long COVID, make sure you are vaccinated and boosted as per the recommendations,” Hafiz said.

The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit our coronavirus news page.