{"id":12803,"date":"2025-07-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=12803"},"modified":"2025-07-15T09:10:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T13:10:25","slug":"2025-long-covid-fact-sheet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=12803","title":{"rendered":"2025 Long Covid Fact Sheet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Long COVID is a global public health crisis. Over 400 million people worldwide have<br>been impacted by Long COVID<br>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long COVID is common. As of fall 2024, at least 1 in 19 US adults are currently living<br>with Long COVID<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">similar to the rate of diabetes &#8211; with many additional cases likely<br>going undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The vast majority of Long COVID cases happen after a mild acute infection.<br>Studies show between 76%3 to 90%4 of Long COVID cases happen after a mild<br>infection.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recovery from Long COVID is rare. Only 6-9% of people with Long COVID are<br>recovered at 2-3 years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long COVID incidence remains high, even among those fully vaccinated and with<br>more recent variant strains.<br>a. The incidence of people currently living with Long COVID has remained between<br>5.3-6.1% of the US adult population from December 2022 to September 2024.<br>b. 17% of study participants developed Long COVID after Omicron infection,<br>compared to 23% after pre-Omicron variants.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Each additional COVID infection increases the risk of developing Long COVID,<br>even in those fully vaccinated. Studies on reinfection show:<br>a. People are 1.7x more likely to develop Long COVID after 2 infections, and 2.6x<br>more likely to develop Long COVID after 3 infections.<br>b. Long COVID occurred in 24% of reinfections.<br>c. Reinfections lead to higher incidence and severity of Long COVID.<br>d. Reinfections increase the rates of long-term health problems including heart,<br>lung, and brain issues.<br>e. Reinfections are associated with increased chance of getting Long COVID, and<br>worsened existing Long COVID.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>People infected with COVID are more susceptible to other infections.<br>a. Those infected with COVID had higher rates of bacterial, mycoplasma, and<br>influenza infections.<br>b. Children aged 0-5 who had COVID were 1.4x more likely to get RSV that<br>required medical attention.<br>c. Reinfections increased the odds of reporting poor immune health, including<br>having many other infections and taking longer to recover from common<br>infections.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Common new-onset conditions in Long COVID include serious and lifelong<br>disorders.<br>a. This includes vascular events like heart attacks and strokes, as well as<br>permanent conditions like dysautonomia, myalgic encephalomyelitis, and<br>diabetes.<br>b. In non-hospitalized people, COVID increases the risk of 30 neurological disorders<br>for at least a year, including Alzheimer\u2019s, ischemic stroke and TIA, memory<br>problems, peripheral neuropathy, migraine, epilepsy, and hearing and vision<br>abnormalities.<br>c. In non-hospitalized people, COVID increases the risk of 18 cardiovascular<br>conditions for at least a year, including myocarditis, pulmonary embolism, and<br>heart failure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long COVID has caused the highest rates of serious, persistent cognitive<br>problems in the US population than any time in the last 15 years.<br>a. The cognitive impairment includes problems with memory, reasoning, executive<br>functioning, language, and processing speed, and younger people may have<br>worse and more marked impairment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long COVID patients experience severe functional limitations, poor quality of life,<br>and extreme fatigue at least as detrimental as many serious illnesses, including<br>Parkinson\u2019s disease and certain cancers.<br>a. Long COVID patients\u2019 functional ability scores ranked lower than stroke and were<br>on par with those found in Parkinson\u2019s disease on a scale measuring ability to<br>work, manage the household, engage in leisure, and maintain social<br>relationships.<br>b. Long COVID patients\u2019 quality of life scores ranked lower than those in<br>advanced\/metastatic cancers.<br>c. Long COVID patients\u2019 fatigue scores were worse than those in end stage renal<br>failure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long COVID substantially impacts patients\u2019 livelihoods and ability to work, with<br>most being unable to work or needing reduced hours.<br>a. At 2 years, only 40% of Long COVID patients could work full-time.<br>b. 52% had reduced work hours and lost an average of 25% of their monthly<br>income.<br>c. People with Long COVID are nearly twice as likely to report housing insecurity.<br>d. People with Long COVID report high rates of food insecurity 29 30 and difficulty<br>paying utility bills.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>COVID increases risks during pregnancy and childbirth, and is associated with<br>reproductive health issues like altered menstruation and erectile dysfunction.<br>a. COVID infections are associated with early miscarriages, stillbirths, preterm<br>births and cesarean deliveries , and preeclampsia and maternal mortality.<br>b. Long COVID is associated with many reproductive health disorders including<br>menstrual issues, endometriosis, erectile dysfunction, and others.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long COVID disproportionately impacts people from already marginalized groups.<br>a. Rates of Long COVID are higher in Hispanic\/Latine and Black people, trans<br>people, disabled people, and women.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Children are greatly impacted by Long COVID.<br>a. An estimated 6 million children are estimated to have Long COVID as of early<br>2024.<br>b. Children have similar rates of Long COVID to adults, as well as similar findings<br>regarding organ system complications, new-onset conditions, and biological<br>mechanisms.<br>c. Many pathological findings in adults, such as impaired function on a CPET, have<br>also been found in children.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long COVID has a highly destructive impact on the economy.<br>a. The global economic cost of Long COVID is estimated at $1 trillion per year.<br>b. In 2024, 1.5 billion work hours were lost in the US due to Long COVID<br>corresponding to a potential cost of more than US $152.6 billion.<br>c. Long COVID is responsible for massive GDP losses worldwide \u2013 including $24.4<br>billion in Saudi Arabia, $12.3 billion in Taiwan, and $11 billion in Brazil.<br>d. Five years of Long COVID burden is projected to cost $3.7 trillion to the US<br>economy in reduced quality of life, lost earnings, and increased medical<br>spending.<br>e. Long COVID disproportionately impacts certain labor sectors, particularly those<br>with high exposure to COVID infections, like low-wage workers, farm workers,<br>and those in education and the service industry.<br>f. A quarter of US Marines who had COVID developed Long COVID, with long-term<br>decrease in functional performance.<br>g. Lost productivity of caretakers in the UK was estimated at \u00a34.8 billion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Medical provider education about Long COVID is inadequate.<br>a. Only 7% of physicians are very confident diagnosing Long COVID and only 4%<br>are very confident treating it.<br>b. A majority of Long COVID patients have experienced a negative experience with<br>a healthcare provider.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lack of public awareness is causing crucial delays in care and support.<br>a. Over \u2153 of people have still not heard of Long COVID despite its wide impact.<br>b. Communities of color are particularly affected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There is a significant amount of Long COVID research.<br>a. Over 86,000 research papers have demonstrated wide-ranging biological<br>abnormalities in Long COVID.<br>b. Up-to-date review papers include the scope of mechanisms and possible<br>therapeutics , viral persistence and mechanisms to target persisting<br>reservoirs, designing and optimizing clinical trials, and roadmaps for Long<br>COVID research and policy.<br>c. An incredible breadth of biological mechanisms have been found in Long COVID,<br>including reduced cerebral blood flow and disrupted neurovascular function, tissue damage and skeletal muscle necrosis after exercise, changes to the brainstem74 and hippocampus,<br>viral persistence and persisting antigen, induced Long COVID in mice by<br>transferring IgG from Long COVID patients, and innumerable more.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The vast majority of the public and physicians believe Long COVID needs more<br>research funding. 82% of physicians and 76% of the public believe it is important to<br>increase research funding for Long COVID.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-long-haul-disease"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12847,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12803\/revisions\/12847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}