Long COVID in U.S. Adults, 2022–2023: Down to 6%, and a Quarter Severely Limited

Long COVID covers a wide range of respiratory, neurologic, cardiovascular and other health problems that emerge, persist or return after COVID-19, lasting weeks, months or years. Estimates of how often it follows COVID-19 in non-hospitalized adults range from 7.5% to 41%. It strains the health system — one U.S. study found SARS-CoV-2 infection linked to a 4% rise in health care use over the following 6 months — and can harm quality of life, function and work; in Australia, long COVID caused 74% of the years lived with disability from one Omicron wave.

CDC analyzed the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey from June 2022 to June 2023, which asked adults whether they'd had COVID-19 and whether they currently had long COVID, and — from September 2022 — whether it significantly limited their daily activities.

Key findings

• Prevalence fell until early January 2023, then leveled off — about 1 in 10 adults who'd had COVID-19 still had long COVID at the end of the study.
• Only adults under 60 saw significant declines overall; among those who'd had COVID-19, prevalence fell in ages 30–79 through fall or winter, then stabilized.
• Prevalence tended to be lower in the youngest (18–29) and oldest (60+) adults, as in other U.S. and U.K. studies.
• In June 2023, 26.4% of adults with long COVID reported significant activity limitation — unchanged over time and similar across ages.

Long COVID among all adults by age group, June 2022–June 2023. From CDC's MMWR.

Significant activity limitation among adults with long COVID, June 7–19, 2023. From CDC's MMWR.

Why it fell — and why age matters

The decline may reflect fewer infections, less severe illness, antiviral treatment, vaccination or other factors. Lower rates among older adults might reflect survivor bias, fewer older people ever infected, or more protective behaviors such as getting the bivalent vaccine. In another U.S. study during the 2022 Omicron BA.4/BA.5 wave, long COVID was lowest at 65+ (14.8%) and highest at 35–44 (27.6%); in the U.K., it peaked at ages 35–49.

The toll of activity limits

Being unable to carry out daily activities affects quality of life, function and the ability to work or care for others. In the U.K., long COVID patients' quality-of-life scores resembled those of people with advanced cancer, and 53% had moderately severe functional impairment — worse than after stroke. In the U.S., long COVID has been linked to lower full-time employment and higher unemployment; in New York, 18% of state insurance fund claimants with long COVID couldn't return to work for more than a year.

What it means

COVID-19 prevention, including staying up to date on vaccination, remains important, as does planning for long COVID symptom management and future health care needs.

Limits: the survey reached only households with a matched phone number or email, and response rates were low (3.9%–7.0%).

Sources

Based on Ford ND, Slaughter D, Edwards D, et al., "Long COVID and Significant Activity Limitation Among Adults, by Age — United States, June 1–13, 2022, to June 7–19, 2023," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 72(32), CDC; a work of the United States government in the public domain.