The survey was carried out in 27 European countries. In Luxembourg, as in Lithuania and Spain, the results are clear: several risk factors are common among people with long-term covid. Led by the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (Liser) in collaboration with the Luxembourg Institute of Health, this study devoted to long covid explores the role of socio-economic factors in relation to the disease.
The research focused on patients over 50 years old. Thanks to surveys carried out among the latter, we learn that 71.6% of Europeans affected by long covid suffer from persistent symptoms. Among the most cited symptoms, we find fatigue (50.1% of affected patients), cough and shortness of breath (36%), muscle pain (32.6%), or even loss of taste and smell. sense of smell (30.9%) and headaches (28.3%). On average, study participants reported three symptoms.
Women and non-graduates more affected
Beyond focusing on the physical manifestations of the disease, researchers also looked at the profile of patients. The study identifies several risk factors, including female gender, lower education level and employment held by patients. Thus, respondents with post-secondary or higher education qualifications were 28% less likely to have long covid than non-graduates, while men were 31% less likely than women to present with persistent symptoms. People employed in 2020 were 53% more likely to have long-term covid than people who did not work.
Furthermore, multimorbidity, that is to say having other chronic diseases, but also the age of patients would be significantly associated with the number of symptoms. Thus, patients with multimorbidity have a 12% increased risk of presenting an additional symptom. However, having one or more chronic illnesses has no impact on the risk of suffering from long covid, according to the results of the study. Conversely, older respondents had fewer symptoms on average.
Variations depending on the country
If all the European countries listed in this study are facing long-term covid, the disease affects some states more than others. This is the case of Croatia, which recorded a long-term covid prevalence of 91%, while it was lower in Malta (46%). In Luxembourg, the prevalence is around 65%.
The number of reported symptoms also varies depending on the patient’s country of residence. Thus, Luxembourgers suffering from long covid report on average 2.73 symptoms while Italians report 4.10, and the Swiss only 1.41. In general, countries with a higher proportion of people with long covid also have a higher average number of symptoms.
In order to better protect populations susceptible to the long-term effects of covid, researchers are calling for additional studies to evaluate other potential risk factors. These could include characteristics of local health systems, health-related behaviors or even social support.
