- Findings from the REACT-2 studies show over a third of people
who had COVID-19 reported symptoms lasting at least 12 weeks
- This amounts to 5.8% of the whole study population with 2%
reporting severe symptoms
- Prevalence of Long COVID increased with age and was higher
among women
Over two million people in England are thought to have had one or
more COVID-19 symptoms lasting at least 12 weeks according to one
of the largest studies of the virus funded by the government.
The study is based on self-reported data from 508,707 adults aged
18 and above who took part in REACT-2 rounds three to five
carried out between September 2020 and February 2021.
Around a fifth of those surveyed reported having had a COVID-19
symptom previously, with over a third reporting persistent
symptoms lasting at least 12 weeks.
Around a tenth of those with symptoms said they lasted at least
12 weeks and were severe.
The findings suggest prevalence of persistent symptoms, or long
COVID, increases with age, with a 3.5% increase in likelihood in
each decade of life. It shows long COVID is higher among women,
people who are overweight or obese, who smoke, live in deprived
areas, or had been admitted to hospital. Persistent COVID-19
symptoms were lower in people of Asian ethnicity.
Health and Social Care Secretary, said:
“Long COVID can have a lasting and debilitating impact on the
lives of those affected. Studies like this help us to rapidly
build our understanding of the impact of the condition and we are
using these findings and other new research to develop support
and treatments.
“We are learning more about long COVID all the time and have made
£50 million of research funding available to support innovative
projects, with clinics established across the country to help
improve the treatment available.”
COVID-19 is still a relatively new disease and to better
understand its long-term effects the government is providing
scientists with £50 million of research funding through the UK
Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for
Health Research (NIHR) to help ensure the best treatments are
available.
To help people suffering the debilitating long term effects of
this virus, the NHS has opened over 80 long COVID assessment
services across England and last week the NHS published a £100
million plan to expand support, including £30 million to help GPs
improve diagnosis and care for patients with long COVID.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT programme
at Imperial, said:
“Our findings do paint a concerning picture of the longer-term
health consequences of COVID-19, which need to be accounted for
in policy and planning. Long COVID is still poorly understood but
we hope through our research that we can contribute to better
identification and management of this condition, which our data
and others’ suggest may ultimately affect millions of people in
the UK alone.”
People with persistent symptoms at 12 weeks fell into two broad
groups. In the first the most common symptom was tiredness and
muscle aches. In the second, the most common symptoms were
shortness of breath affecting normal activities, tightness in
chest, and chest pain, with more people reporting that they had
severe symptoms.
Health Minister, said:
“We are learning more about long COVID every day. Surveillance
programmes like REACT-2 are absolutely essential to advancing our
understanding of the long term impacts of COVID-19.
“We are completely committed to backing innovative research
projects into long COVID. They add to our body of understanding
and help us develop better treatments to make sure people get the
support they need.”
The study was based on self-reported data and because many of the
symptoms are common and not specific to COVID-19 it may
overestimate the prevalence of persistent symptoms following
COVID-19.
It adds to the growing body of evidence, including similar
research from King's College London published today.
Notes to editors
- The pre-print of this study will follow shortly.
- Prevalence estimates in this study were weighted by age, sex,
ethnicity, LTLA population and deprivation to take account of:
-
- the sample design which gave ~equal numbers of
participants in each LTLA,
- differential response rates.
- The aim was to obtain prevalence estimates that were
representative of the adult population of England as a whole.
