Factors Associated With Long COVID Symptoms in an Online Cohort Study

Few prospective studies of Long COVID risk factors have been conducted. The purpose of this study was to determine whether sociodemographic factors, lifestyle, or medical history preceding COVID-19 or characteristics of acute severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection are associated with Long COVID.

In March 26, 2020, the COVID-19 Citizen Science study, an online cohort study, began enrolling participants with longitudinal assessment of symptoms before, during, and after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Adult participants who reported a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result before April 4, 2022 were surveyed for Long COVID symptoms. The primary outcome was at least 1 prevalent Long COVID symptom greater than 1 month after acute infection. Exposures of interest included age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, employment, socioeconomic status/financial insecurity, self-reported medical history, vaccination status, variant wave, number of acute symptoms, pre-COVID depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug use, sleep, and exercise.

Of 13 305 participants who reported a SARS-CoV-2 positive test, 1480 (11.1%) responded. Respondents' mean age was 53 and 1017 (69%) were female. Four hundred seventy-six (32.2%) participants reported Long COVID symptoms at a median 360 days after infection. In multivariable models, number of acute symptoms (odds ratio [OR], 1.30 per symptom; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.20-1.40), lower socioeconomic status/financial insecurity (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.02-2.63), preinfection depression (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.01-1.16), and earlier variants (OR = 0.37 for Omicron compared with ancestral strain; 95% CI, 0.15-0.90) were associated with Long COVID symptoms.

Variant wave, severity of acute infection, lower socioeconomic status, and pre-existing depression are associated with Long COVID symptoms.