Young and middle-aged adults are at higher risk of long-term COVID infection than older adults

Long COVID takes a greater toll on young and middle-aged adults than older adults, a new study finds.

The Northwestern Medicine researchers didn’t expect the results.

“So our initial hypothesis was that older people would have worse symptoms of long COVID. In fact, it was the other way around,” says Dr. Igor Koralnik.

A team of researchers led by Koralnik analyzed data from 13 hundred patients treated at Northwestern University’s neuro-Covid clinic from May 2020 to March 2023.

“We found that young and middle-aged patients in the clinic had worse neurological and non-neurological symptoms of long COVID. These symptoms had a greater impact on their quality of life, and they also had more cognitive dysfunction compared to the older adults who came to the clinic.”

Their symptoms varied widely and occurred regardless of whether they had mild or severe COVID infections.

One Long Covid patient at the clinic says: “I have blood pressure attacks, like heart palpitations. I can still feel it throughout my body. I’m exhausted. In a slight fog. It happens suddenly. and just lingers at the top of my head and it’s intense and all day long.”

Dr. Koralnik says that although the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, the long COVID pandemic continues and affects young people who provide the majority of the workforce in our society.

“We need to continue to care for these people, treat their symptoms and conduct research to understand what the underlying cause of long-term COVID illness is and how we can prevent it in the future.”

Source: Annals of Neurology

Author Affiliation: Northwestern Medicine