Who is at risk of Long Covid?

A new analysis published in JAMA Internal Medicine has provided a clearer picture of the risk factors for long Covid. It found that people over 40, those with previous health issues, and those who had a severe coronavirus infection are more likely to experience long-term symptoms, while those who have been vaccinated are less likely to do so. The analysis looked at 41 studies involving a total of 860,783 patients, and found that women were 1.5 times more likely than men to develop long Covid, and those with obesity, smoking, immunosuppressive conditions, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, asthma, anxiety, depression, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes were at greater risk as well. Those who were hospitalized, whether in intensive care or not, were nearly two and a half times as likely to develop long Covid than patients who were not hospitalized. Additional studies have looked into more detailed biological characteristics such as autoantibodies and reactivated Epstein-Barr virus that can increase the risk of developing long Covid. The authors of the analysis concluded that the risk factors are unlikely to change with new variants.