2m people in England thought to have had Long Covid
Some two million people in England are thought to have had Covid symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks, according to Imperial College London’s latest REACT study.
Researchers for the government-funded study said their findings painted a “concerning picture”, as over a third of people who’d had coronavirus reported persistent symptoms lasting at least 12 weeks.
Around a tenth of those reporting Long Covid said their enduring symptoms were severe.
People with Long Covid were differentiated into two groups based on the symptoms they reported. The first group’s most common symptoms were tiredness and muscle aches.
The second group more commonly reported severe symptoms, which included shortness of breath that affected normal activities, a tight chest and chest pain.
Researchers based the study on self-reported data from 508,707 adults in England who took part in other rounds of the REACT-2 studies carried out between September 2020 and February 2021.
Age was a risk factor for Long Covid, according to their findings – with the likelihood of experiencing persistent symptoms increasing 3.5 per cent with each decade of life.
Long Covid was also more prevalent in women, people who are overweight or obese, who smoke, live in deprived areas, or had been admitted to hospital with the virus.
Persistent Covid symptoms were less common in people of Asian ethnicity.
“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,” said Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT programme at Imperial.
“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,” he added.
£50m for Long Covid research
The government has plugged £50m into research through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to better understand the long-term effects of coronavirus and work out the best treatments.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said the government was using the study’s findings and other new research to “rapidly build” its understanding of Long Covid and develop more support for people with lasting symptoms.
“Long Covid can have a lasting and debilitating impact on the lives of those affected,” Hancock acknowledged.
Over 80 Long Covid assessment centres have been opened by the NHS across England, and last week the health service published a £100m plan to widen support. The plan includes £30m to help GPs improve their diagnosis of Long Covid and care for patients who report persistent symptoms.