Long COVID affects young adults more than older people, study finds

Researchers warned that young and middle-aged adults are at higher risk of experiencing worse Long COVID symptoms compared to people aged 65 and over.

Accordingly Health Day, A team of researchers from Northwestern Medicine analyzed data from 13 hundred COVID-19 patients from May 2020 to March 2023, hypothesizing that “older people’s long-term COVID-19 symptoms will be worse.”

But after analyzing the data, they found surprising and opposite results.

Chief investigator Dr. Igor Koralnik said: “We found that young and middle-aged patients in the clinic had worse neurological and non-neurological symptoms of long COVID. Their quality of life was more affected by these symptoms and they also had more cognitive dysfunction compared to older individuals who came to the clinic.”

He said that although the pandemic is over, the Long Covid-19 epidemic continues and affects the young workforce of the society.

“We need to continue to care for these people, treat their symptoms, and conduct research to understand what the root cause of Long COVID is and how we can prevent it in the future,” the researcher suggested.

Long Covid Symptoms

Long COVID symptoms include extreme fatigue, confusion, dizziness, taste and smell problems, sleep problems, shortness of breath, cough, headache, fast or irregular heartbeat, and digestive problems.