Long COVID patients experience major losses of function and quality of life

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-08-25 00:01

Australia; VIC; SA; TAS

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

A group of Australian long COVID patients, who were surveyed about how the condition is impacting them, have higher levels of disability than 98% of the Australian population, according to Australian researchers. The team recruited 121 adults who had COVID-19 in 2020 up to mid 2022 and fit the World Health Organization's description of a long COVID patient in late 2022. They then surveyed the participants to assess the level of disability and function they had on a daily basis along with their quality of life. Comparing the cohort to the general population, the researchers say long COVID was linked to a stark reduction in quality of life and ability to do basic life tasks. They say efforts to support long COVID patients should prioritise managing fatigue and getting patients to a position where they can perform important daily activities.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research CSIRO Publishing, Web page The URL will go live at 8am AEST on the day the embargo lifts

Journal/
conference: Australian Journal of Primary Health

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Deakin University, Flinders University, The University of Melbourne, University of Tasmania

Funder: This project received funding from the Institute of Health Transformation at Deakin University via the Category 1 Seed Grant scheme

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.