1 in 8 COVID survivors still have symptoms 2 years after infection, researchers say – University of Minnesota Twin Cities
dragana991 / iStockToday in BMC Medicine, researchers in Catalonia, Spain, estimate that 23% of adult COVID-19 survivors develop long COVID, with 56% of them—or one in eight (13%) of those infected—still experiencing symptoms at 2 years.The team evaluated 2,764 COVID-19 survivors from a population-based cohort established before the pandemic and followed up in 2020, 2021, and 2023 for concentrations of immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and clinical, vaccination, sociodemographic, and lifestyle factors. Symptoms were derived from patient questionnaires and electronic health records, and participants gave blood samples at study visits.The 647 long-COVID patients were compared with 2,117 infected controls without long-term symptoms. “The mechanisms leading to long-COVID are multiple and still unclear,” the investigators wrote. “Identifying subtypes and disease courses over time may help disentangle these mechanisms.”From 2021 to 2023, 23% of participants developed long-COVID symptoms, with 56% of those infected in 2021 reporting symptoms for 2 years. The researchers identified three long-COVID subtypes: mild neuromuscular (51.6%), mild respiratory (20.6%), and severe multi-organ (27.8%), the latter of which carried the highest risk of persistent symptoms (relative risk [RR], 1.61).The most common long-COVID symptoms were neurologic (63%), muscular (39%), respiratory (28%), and psychological and psychiatric (21%). Women were more likely than men to report neurologic and muscular symptoms, while respiratory symptoms were more common in men. Long-COVID patients first infected during the Omicron period had similar but fewer long-term symptoms than those infected before that time, which the researchers said could be due to milder infections or greater general immunity to the virus.Risk factors included female sex, age younger than 50 years, low socioeconomic status, severe COVID-19 infection, high pre-vaccination IgG levels, obesity, and chronic illness, especially asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and depression/anxiety. People with mild or moderate COVID-19 had more than three times the risk (RR, 3.10) of lingering symptoms as those with no symptoms, and those with severe infection were nearly 10 times more likely (RR, 9.88).Protective factors were vaccination before infection or within 3 months after infection, Omicron variant infection, greater level of physical activity, and sleeping for 6 to 8 hours a night. “The discovery that pre-infection vaccination confers a protective effect on long-COVID, even when accounting for COVID-19 severity, suggests improved infection control and immune response modulation by vaccines,” the study authors wrote.The pandemic’s impact on mental health, work, and quality of life remains profound.Rafael de Cid, PhDIn a Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) news release, coauthor Rafael de Cid, PhD, of the Germans Trias I Pujol Research Institute, said, “On the fifth anniversary of COVID-19, significant progress has been made in understanding the disease. However, as this study shows, the pandemic’s impact on mental health, work, and quality of life remains profound.” Senior author Judith Garcia-Aymerich, MD, PhD, of ISGlobal, called for more research. “Establishing collaborations with other countries will be key to understanding whether these findings can be extrapolated to other populations,” she said.The measles outbreak in Texas rises to 198 cases, while New Mexico’s outbreak climbs to 30 cases.Two people with reported exposure associated with the Texas and New Mexico outbreaks now have symptoms. The patient may have exposed people at Washington Dulles International Airport and a pediatric emergency department in Maryland.Suspected case-patients, one of them a woman who became ill while pregnant, have links to the western part of Uganda.Authorities say cases in Philadelphia and New York have no connection to ongoing outbreaks.The cats were part of a group that lived on a poultry farm hit by the virus a few weeks earlier.Like the recent WHO recommendation, the picks change the H3N2 strain for egg- and cell-based vaccines.Some of the terminated grants focused on boosting uptake in minority populations, with the cuts covering a range of vaccines.From 2021 to 2023, 23% of participants developed long-COVID symptoms, with 56% of those infected in 2021 reporting symptoms for 2 years. Texas has added 36 new measles cases, pushing the US case count to 301. Help make CIDRAP’s vital work possibleCIDRAP – Center for Infectious Disease Research & PolicyResearch and Innovation Office, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MNEmail us© 2025 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights Reserved.The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employerResearch and Innovation Office | Contact U of M | Privacy PolicyNewsletter subscribe
