Persistent COVID-19 symptoms in a community study of 606,434 people in England

Long COVID remains a broadly defined syndrome, with estimates of prevalence and duration varying widely. We use data from rounds 3-5 of the REACT-2 study (n = 508,707; September 2020 - February 2021), a representative community survey of adults in England, and replication data from round 6 (n = 97,717; May 2021) to estimate the prevalence and identify predictors of persistent symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more; and unsupervised learning to cluster individuals by reported symptoms. At 12 weeks in rounds 3-5, 37.7% experienced at least one symptom, falling to 21.6% in round 6. Female sex, increasing age, obesity, smoking, vaping, hospitalisation with COVID-19, deprivation, and being a healthcare worker are…

• WT
  Wellcome Trust

  Awards: 200861, 200861/Z/16/Z, MC_PC_17114, /Z/15/Z, 200187
• UR
  UK Research and Innovation

  Award: MR/V030841/1
• NI
  National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit
• AM
  Action Medical Research
• CR
  Cancer Research UK

  Award: 22184
• NI
  National Institute for Health and Care Research

  Awards: COV-LT-0040, MR/V030841/1
• BH
  British Heart Foundation

  Award: RE/18/4/34215
• DO
  Department of Health and Social Care
• IC
  Imperial College London

  Awards: H2020, MR/S019669/1, RE/18/4/34215
• UD
  UK Dementia Research Institute

  Award: MC_PC_17114
• MC
  MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health

  Awards: MR/L01341X/1, MR/S019669/1, MR/L01341X/1, MR/S019669/1
• HF
  Huo Family Foundation
• H2
  Horizon 2020 Framework Programme

  Award: 874627
• MR
  Medical Research Council

  Awards: MR/S019669/1, MR/L01341X/1, MR/V030841/1, MR/L01341X/1, MC_PC_17114, MR/S019669/1, MR/R015600/1, MR/J008761/1, RE/18/4/34215, MC_PC_19012, MC_PC_17114, COVID-19
• NI
  NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre
• SO
  School of Public Health, Imperial College London