Prevalence and Factors Associated with Long COVID Symptoms among U.S. Adults, 2022

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Paper Summary

Conflicts of Interest

Identified Weaknesses

Rating Explanation

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Paper Summary

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Long COVID More Common in Younger Adults, Women, and Other Groups; Vaccination Helps

This cross-sectional study of U.S. adults found that long COVID was more common in younger age groups, women, certain racial/ethnic minority groups, and individuals with certain underlying health conditions or behaviors. Vaccination was associated with a lower prevalence of long COVID. The most commonly reported long COVID symptoms were tiredness/fatigue, difficulty breathing, and loss of taste or smell.

Possible Conflicts of Interest

None identified

Identified Weaknesses

Self-reported data

The study relies on self-reported data from surveys, which can be subject to recall bias and may not accurately reflect actual diagnoses or symptom duration.

Cross-sectional study design

The cross-sectional design of the study makes it difficult to establish cause-and-effect relationships between risk factors and long COVID.

Lack of information on severity and treatment

The study does not account for individual differences, such as the severity of initial COVID-19 infection or treatment received, which could influence the risk of long COVID. As a result, the effect of vaccination in this study may be underestimated, or other factors may be overstated or understated.

Limited generalizability of vaccination findings

The vaccination sub-analysis included data from only 27 states and territories and therefore may not represent the entire US population. This limits the generalizability of the findings.

Low survey response rate

The survey had a completion response rate of 45.1%, which may lead to non-response bias, potentially affecting the representativeness of the results. Weighting was applied but may not fully mitigate potential bias.

Rating Explanation

This study uses a large, nationally representative dataset to examine prevalence and factors associated with long COVID, which is a strength. However, the reliance on self-reported data, cross-sectional design, and lack of information on COVID-19 severity and treatment limit causal inference. Furthermore, the lower than ideal survey response rate and limited generalizability of the vaccination findings reduce the overall strength of the study.

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