How common is long COVID?Australian data on long COVID remains...

How common is long COVID?

Australian data on long COVID remains limited compared to international data, and estimates of its prevalence have varied. A report from Australia’s parliamentary inquiry into long COVID, published in April, suggested 2-20 percent of people may develop long COVID following an infection.

A recent Australian study conducted when vaccines were widely available indicates earlier Omicron variants saw 10 percent of people who caught COVID develop long COVID.

Another recent study, yet to be peer-reviewed, found 18.2 percent of those infected went on to have long COVID. The wide-ranging estimates are likely to be because of different COVID variants, differences in vaccination, and different long COVID definitions and assessment methods.

The risk is lower in children. One Australian study indicated persistent symptoms in 8 percent of children who had COVID in 2020, while preliminary research points to a slightly lower risk among children infected in 2021.

But more research is needed, especially as the virus continues to evolve. This can be complicated because typical long COVID symptoms are common to many other health problems. As in other countries, more research is now underway in Australia to determine the accurate prevalence of the condition using a definition and methods that carefully exclude other causes.

Although research on long COVID risk factors with new variants is ongoing, we expect being female, having more severe initial disease and having other health conditions will increase a person’s chance of getting long COVID.

https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2024/01/10/i-have-covid-how-likely-am-i-to-get-long-covid.html

I've often been suspicious of kids and adults who complain about being tired all the time. often thought they just love to live in bed and asleep. but of course I was wrong and there are several legitimate causes of what looks to an energetic bloke like me as 'laziness'.

Long COVID has similarly been disputed among medical professionals as well as in the community.

now that specific pathology markers have been clearly identified the inflammatory process is becoming better understood

https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/9592f439-9b96-4589-a55d-6b04e262e5e1/aihw-phe-318.pdf?v=20230605184446&inline=true. is a meta-analysis of the research and data concerning long COVID.