Table 2.
Prevalence (frequencies and percentages) of long COVID 3 months after a PCR test and related variablesa, overall and stratified by SARS-CoV-2 status
| Characteristics 3 months after a PCR test | Total population (N=7139) | SARS-CoV-2 negative (N=3893) | SARS-CoV-2 positive (N=3246) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | % | N | % | N | % | |
| Outcome | ||||||
| Long COVID at 3 months | ||||||
| No | 5603 | 78.48 | 3174 | 81.53 | 2429 | 74.83 |
| Yes | 1536 | 21.52 | 719 | 18.47 | 817 | 25.17 |
| Variables related to the outcomea | ||||||
| Number of symptoms | ||||||
| 0 | 2968 | 41.57 | 1848 | 47.47 | 1120 | 34.50 |
| 1–4 | 3496 | 48.97 | 1798 | 46.19 | 1698 | 52.31 |
| 5+ | 675 | 9.46 | 247 | 6.34 | 428 | 13.19 |
| Mobility | ||||||
| No problems | 6683 | 93.61 | 3680 | 94.53 | 3003 | 92.51 |
| Some/a lot of problems | 456 | 6.39 | 213 | 5.47 | 243 | 7.49 |
| Looking after self | ||||||
| No problems | 6819 | 95.52 | 3709 | 95.27 | 3110 | 95.81 |
| Some/a lot of problems | 320 | 4.48 | 184 | 4.73 | 136 | 4.19 |
| Doing usual activities | ||||||
| No problems | 6099 | 85.43 | 3376 | 86.72 | 2723 | 83.89 |
| Some/a lot of problems | 1040 | 14.57 | 517 | 13.28 | 523 | 16.11 |
| Having pain | ||||||
| No problems | 6016 | 84.27 | 3327 | 85.46 | 2689 | 82.84 |
| Some/a lot of problems | 1123 | 15.73 | 566 | 14.54 | 557 | 17.16 |
| Feeling worried/sad | ||||||
| No problems/a bit | 6571 | 92.04 | 3581 | 91.99 | 2990 | 92.11 |
| Very worried/sad | 568 | 7.96 | 312 | 8.01 | 256 | 7.89 |
The need for a positive test result was not required when assessing how many test-negatives would also have met this definition
aUsing data from the questionnaire on the 21 symptoms and the EQ-5D-Y scale (~3 months after the PCR test), the Delphi research definition of long COVID was operationalized as having at least 1 symptom and experiencing some/a lot of problems with respect to mobility, self-care, doing usual activities or having pain/discomfort or feeling very worried/sad