Younger patients are more affected by long Covid than older patients, study finds

From the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, older patients have been more likely to become sick and die from the illness. In 2023, patients over 65 made up 90% of Covid deaths, according to research from the CDC’s Covid Hospitalization Surveillance Network.

But a new study out of Northwestern Medicine found that younger patients have experienced more severe symptoms of long Covid.

Long Covid occurs in some patients after they are diagnosed with the SARS-Cov-2 virus. It can cause symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, and shortness of breath, according to the Mayo Clinic. A number of studies estimate how many patients have been diagnosed with long Covid in the US since 2020, with one recent estimate placing it at 22.8%.

The Northwestern Medicine study, published in the journal Annals of Neurology on November 22, found that in the 10 months following a Covid diagnosis, patients in age groups 18–44 (“younger”) and 45–64 (“middle age”) experienced more severe “neurologic symptoms” compared to patients aged 65 and over (“older”).

Fatigue, headaches, numbness, and smell and taste issues are among these neurologic issues, according to Northwestern Medicine.

Breaking down the numbers. The study reviewed data from 1,300 patients who tested positive for the virus, received care at Northwestern’s Neuro Covid-19 Clinic, and reported long Covid symptoms between May 2020 and March 2023.

Of these patients, 1,100 had mild cases of Covid and were not hospitalized for the disease. The younger and middle age groups made up 142 of the 200 patients who were hospitalized and 995 of the 1,100 patients who were not hospitalized.

In both age segments, however, both hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients reported more long Covid symptoms than those in the older age group. For example, nonhospitalized patients in the younger and middle age groups said they experienced on average five symptoms whereas older patients averaged four. Among the previously hospitalized patients, the younger group averaged six symptoms, middle age averaged five, and older averaged four.

Nonhospitalized younger patients also said they had experienced more issues with blurred vision, with 31.2% (169) of the younger patients and 33.3% (151) of the middle age patients having these symptoms compared to 24.8% (26) of patients in the older group.

Beyond neurologic symptoms, the younger (22.5%) and middle age (16.7%) hospitalized patients and younger (26.4%) and middle age (22.7%) nonhospitalized patients also reported higher levels of depression and anxiety. For comparison, 3.8% and 19%, respectively, said they had had these symptoms among older hospitalized and nonhospitalized patients.

Both younger segments also reported experiencing more chest pain. Among the hospitalized patients, 50% of the younger and 45.1% of the middle age groups experienced this symptom compared to 24.1% of the older patients. And 33.1% of nonhospitalized younger patients and 29.4% of middle age patients reported having had the symptom, in contrast to 19% of older patients.