New survey data finds that long COVID was less prevalent in 2022 compared to other estimates previously recorded.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared its National Health Interview Survey results on Tuesday that contained data on Americans and long COVID. The survey data came from 27,651 people who reported data in 2022.
According to the survey results, 6.9% of adults said they had COVID symptoms for at least three months after testing positive for COVID-19 or being diagnosed by a doctor. The estimate is lower than previous CDC survey data from 2022 and 2023, which has stated that about 14% to 15% of adults in the country have had long COVID.
The report said that 18 million Americans said they have had long COVID, and 8.8 million said they currently had it at the time survey data was gathered.
Adults between the ages of 35 and 49 were most likely to ever have or currently have long COVID, according to the new data. People in that age group reported that 8.9% have had it, and 4.7% had it when the data was collected. Women were more likely than men to ever have or have long COVID when the survey was taken.
In a separate briefing, the CDC reported that 1.3% of children in the US have had long COVID. At the time the survey data was collected, 0.5% of children had symptoms that persisted for at least three months. Children ages 12 to 17 years were more likely than those ages up to five years old and those 6 to 11 years old to ever have it, or have it when the data was collected.
The news comes after a report found that the risk of developing long COVID was higher for the alpha, delta and wild-type variants of COVID-19 — and lower with the omicron variant. Those with long COVID are more likely to require long-term care services.
