who is at risk for long covid?

Scientists are uncovering risk factors for Long COVID and learning why symptoms vary from person to person.  While 203 long covid symptoms have been documented, not everyone will have the same set of symptoms.

Some groups have a higher risk, including:

• People who did not get a COVID-19 vaccine (2 doses were reported to reduce risk by 40%)
• Number of covid-19 infections (each one increases risk by 5%)
• Female sex (2x risk over male)
• Older age (>70 years of age)
• The specific SARS-CoV-2 variant that caused the initial infection alpha & delta >> omnicron
• Higher viral loads during covid
• Having 5 or more symptoms during the 1 week of covid-19 infection
• Preexisting autoimmunity such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus/SLE, Sjogren’s disease
• Preexisting herpes family virus infection such as CMV or EBV
• Preexisting Lyme disease
• Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS)
• Gut dysbiosis
• Poor mental health – preexisting anxiety or depression
• Preexisting asthma
• Obesity; BMI > 30
• Smokers
• Diabetes mellitus
• Immunosuppressed
• Ischemic heart disease