Although this survey based study suggests some improvement over time, the burden of long COVID remains high, with millions of adults still affected and true biological recovery remaining uncertain🧵
This study analyzed data from the US National Health Interview Survey from 2022 to 2024 to examine how common long COVID is and how often people report recovering from it.
The main findings.
From 2022 to 2024, the share of US adults who reported ever having had COVID increased from 39.6% to 60.4%. Among those individuals, however, the proportion who reported ever having long COVID fell from 19.7% to 13.7%.
From 2022 to 2024, the share of US adults who reported ever having had COVID increased from 39.6% to 60.4%. Among those individuals, however, the proportion who reported ever having long COVID fell from 19.7% to 13.7%.
At the same time, the proportion who reported recovery from long COVID increased from 51.2% to 59.7%. In 2024, the authors estimated that 8.3% of all U.S. adults had experienced long COVID at some point.
Higher LC likelihood was consistently associated with being female, being between 35 and 64 years old, and having lower household income.
Non-Hispanic Asian adults showed a lower likelihood. Long COVID was more common among people living outside metropolitan areas and in certain U.S. regions.
Non-Hispanic Asian adults showed a lower likelihood. Long COVID was more common among people living outside metropolitan areas and in certain U.S. regions.
When it came to recovery, the clearest pattern was that adults aged 35 and older were less likely to report recovery.
Many people, especially those over 35, continue to experience persistent symptoms. The study also highlights the need for a better understanding of the biological mechanisms behind long COVID, especially since there is still no clearly proven effective treatment.
The data are based on self report, which means there may be inaccuracies or misclassification. It also does not follow the same individuals over time. Instead, it compares different population samples across different years. As a result, it cannot show true individual recovery trajectories.
Most importantly, this paper does not demonstrate true biological recovery. It only captures self-reported disappearance of symptoms in a survey setting.
The authors defined recovery in a simple way - a person had previously reported long COVID, but later answered that they no longer had symptoms. That may be useful for population-level analysis, but it is not the same as objectively confirmed recovery.
Shah at al., Long COVID and Recovery Among US Adults. jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…
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