Importance: Persistent symptoms after SARS-COV-2 infection, or long-COVID, may occur in anywhere from 10-55% of those who have had COVID-19, but the extent of impact on daily functioning and disability remains unquantified.
Objective: To characterize physical and mental disability associated with long-COVID.
Design: Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a cohort study.
Setting: Online US nationwide survey.
Participants: Adults 18 years of age and older who live in the US who either report a history of COVID-19 illness (n=8,874) or report never having had COVID-19 (n=633).
Main outcome and measures: Self-reported mobility disability (difficulty walking a quarter of a mile and/or up 10 stairs, instrumental activities of daily living [IADL] disability (difficulty doing light or heavy housework), and mental fatigue as measured by the Wood Mental Fatigue Inventory (WMFI).
Results: Of 7,926 participants with long-COVID, the median age was 45 years, 84% were female, 89% self-reported white race, and 7.4% self-reported Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. Sixty-five percent of long-COVID participants were classified as having at least one disability, compared to 6% of those with resolved-COVID (n=948) and 14% of those with no-COVID (n=633). Of long-COVID participants, about 1% and 5% were classified as critically physically disabled or mentally fatigued, respectively. Age, prior comorbidity, increased BMI, female gender, hospitalization for COVID-19, non-white race, and multi-race were all associated with significantly higher disability burden. Dizziness at the time of infection (33% non-hospitalized, 39% hospitalized) was associated with all five disability components in both hospitalized and non-hospitalized groups. Heavy limbs, dyspnea, and tremors were associated with four of the five components of disability in the non-hospitalized group, and heavy limbs was associated with four of the five components in the hospitalized group. Vaccination was protective against development of disability.
Conclusion and relevance: We observed a high burden of physical and mental disability associated with long-COVID which has serious implications for individual and societal health that may be partially mitigated by vaccination. Longitudinal characterization and evaluation of COVID-19 patients is necessary to identify patterns of recovery and treatment options.