The aftereffects of the covid-19 pandemic have dissipated over time, but not entirely. Research out today shows that a sizeable number of Americans continue to struggle with symptoms tied to long covid.<\/p>\n
Scientists from Yale University and others examined nationally representative survey data. They estimated that about one in 12 U.S. adults had reported ever having long covid by 2024, a slight majority of whom have since recovered. Though the risk of developing and still having long covid is on the decline, plenty of people even now are suffering with no reliable treatment available, the researchers say.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany adults, particularly those 35 years or older, continue to experience lasting symptoms,\u201d they wrote in their paper, published<\/a> Monday in JAMA Network Open.<\/p>\n The rise and fall of long covid <\/p>\n There remains much we don\u2019t know about long covid, including its origins. It\u2019s a\u00a0complex condition<\/a> likely caused by more than one thing, including a dysfunctional immune response to the earliest covid infection or the persistent presence of the coronavirus itself.<\/p>\n Scientists have also struggled<\/a> to pin down the actual risk of developing long covid, with wildly varying prevalence rates from one study to the next. There\u2019s no clear biomarker or test that can currently diagnose it, leaving plenty of room for interpretation (a person with brain fog linked to covid might have gotten sick from something else, for instance). That said, research has generally suggested that important factors like past immunity<\/a>, from vaccines and\/or infection, and the emergence<\/a> of less severe variants like Omicron have steadily lowered the risk of long covid over time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Keeping these limitations in mind, the researchers say that self-reported rates of long covid can still serve as a barometer for its impact on the population.\u00a0They analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a long-running annual and nationally representative poll of Americans\u2019 health and lifestyle habits. For several years, the NHIS has included questions about long covid.<\/p>\n One such question goes: \u201cDid you have any symptoms lasting 3 months or longer that you did not have prior to having coronavirus or COVID-19.\u201d Another asks if the person is experiencing these symptoms currently.<\/p>\n Based on NHIS data collected from 2022 to 2024, the researchers estimated that 8.3% of U.S. adults\u2014around 21.3 million people\u2014reported ever having long covid in 2024. Of those with long covid, roughly 60% reported having recovered from their symptoms.<\/p>\n They also estimated that the odds of developing long covid have decreased over time, from a 19.7% prevalence rate among those infected at the start of the pandemic to a 13.7% rate in 2024. Similarly, the odds of recovery have increased during this period, from a 51.2% recovery rate of long covid cases at the pandemic\u2019s start to 59.7% in 2024.<\/p>\n The lingering specter of long covid <\/p>\n But the researchers admit to a few caveats. At least some self-reported cases of long covid and recovery could both be misclassified. It\u2019s possible some people\u2019s symptoms were caused by something else, for instance. And someone whose long covid symptoms flare up intermittently could mistakenly be considered a recovery.<\/p>\n At the same time, the team\u2019s numbers do roughly line up with other studies examining the recent toll of long covid in the U.S., including the NIH\u2019s RECOVER initiative<\/a>. Other studies have also supported the lowering incidence<\/a> of long covid over time.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Long covid isn\u2019t gone, though. Based on the team\u2019s results, around 8 million Americans were estimated to have the condition in 2024. For some context, that\u2019s a bit more than the number of people currently living<\/a> with Alzheimer\u2019s disease in the U.S. Covid-19 itself remains<\/a> a real, if lessened, threat too, meaning more long covid cases in the future. And these individuals need our help, the researchers say.<\/p>\n \u201cWith no [long covid] treatment demonstrating clear efficacy, greater investment in understanding biological mechanisms, including immunotypic differences between those who recover and those who do not, may provide insights into pathways of persistence and potential targets for intervention,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n For most of us, the pandemic has become an ever-fading memory. Unfortunately, lots of people are still dealing with its shadow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The aftereffects of the covid-19 pandemic have dissipated over time, but not entirely. 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