Prevalence of Long COVID Among Adults Who Have Ever Had COVID-19, by Selected Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics

Long COVID, also known as Post-COVID Conditions, was first reported anecdotally in April 2020 and has continued to cause significant suffering and disability in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines long COVID as "signs, symptoms, and conditions that continue or develop after acute COVID-19 infection" and notes that long COVID encompasses a wide range of symptoms that can last for weeks, months, or years.

Prevalence of Long COVID Among Adults Who Have Ever Had COVID-19, by Selected Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics, a statistical brief from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, presents prevalence estimates of long COVID specifically among the subset of adults who reported ever having COVID-19 by selected demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population.

Highlights:

• 13.7 percent reported ever having long COVID. 
• Women were more likely than men to report ever having long COVID (16.5 percent vs. 10.5 percent). 
• Adults aged 18-34 were less likely than all other age groups to report ever having long COVID (9.8 percent vs. 13.5 perecent-17.9 percent).
• Adults living in high-income households were less likely to report ever having long COVID (11.0 percent) than those living in middle-income households (15.6 percent), low-income or near poor households (17.4 percent), and those living in poor households (17.2 percent). 
• Adults living in a metropolitan statistical area reported lower rates of ever having long COVID than those living outside of a metropolitan statistical area (12.7 percent vs. 19.7 percent).

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