Who are more prone to long Covid?

Cases have been emerging around the world of people being ill for weeks, even months, since first testing positive for Covid-19, but a lot is left to understand about these instances of ‘long Covid’.

Data collated by the UK-based Zoe Covid study points towards the chances of catching long Covid increasing with age.

“The rates of long Covid range from about 1 per cent to 2 per cent for people in their twenties to about 5 per cent for people in their sixties,” said an expert from King's College, Dr Steves, at a webinar conducted by them.

Read more: Five or more symptoms in first week of infection linked to long Covid, as per a study

Some groups more prone to long Covid are women, people with asthma, people with auto-immune conditions, and poor physical/mental health.

Their data also states that the chances of children catching a case of long Covid are very slim.

“About 4.5 per cent of children who have confirmed Covid still have symptoms after four weeks, but by the time you get up to eight weeks, it’s only about 1.5 per cent,” said Dr Duncan, another expert from King's College.

One way to get better protection against long Covid is to get vaccinated, said the experts, as it can cut down long Covid risk by 60 per cent after one jab and 85 per cent after both doses. Even if a person catches the virus after being fully vaccinated, the probability of a long Covid case is highly reduced.

Researchers are actively trying to understand long Covid better and find ways to treat it. Studies are also on about whether blood thinners and statins can ease the burden on Covid long haulers.

“This is not the first or the only illness that can have prolonged effects,” said Dr Duncan.

“I think we can build on research done in other illnesses to help us understand long Covid and identify treatment strategies which have helped in other similar conditions.”

On whether steroids could be used to help long Covid patients, she said despite steroids making a difference in serious acute respiratory illness, it is not yet known how it would help long Covid.

“Steroids also can cause a lot of side-effects, so it's always about striking a balance between the benefits and the side-effects,” she clarified.

One size is not going to fit all when it comes to treating long Covid, she added.