1 in 3 have long Covid 3 to 6 months after getting infected

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Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

Analysing electronic health records from more than 273,000 US patients with Covid-19, researchers found 37% had one or more long Covid symptoms recorded between 3 and 6 months after diagnosis, and this was significantly higher than the risk of post-viral symptoms following the flu. Long Covid risk was higher in people with more severe initial illness, and slightly higher in females and young adults. This study sheds fresh light on long Covid since earlier studies have largely drawn on self-reported data or small studies, and the authors say clinical services need to deliver evidence-backed treatment of long Covid.

Journal/conference: PLOS Medicine

Link to research (DOI): 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003773

Organisation/s: University of Oxford, TriNetX Inc., National Institute for Health Research, UK

Funder: MT, PJH, and JRG were supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215-20005). MT is an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow and an NIHR Oxford Health BRC Senior Research Fellow. MH is supported by a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship (206330/Z/17/Z) and the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the UK National Health Service, NIHR, or the UK Department of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. NIHR: https://www.nihr.ac.uk Wellcome Trust: https://wellcome.org.

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