CDC identifies states with highest and lowest rates of long COVID
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Key takeaways:
- Nearly 7% of survey respondents reported having symptoms of long COVID.
- West Virginia had the highest prevalence of long COVID at almost 11%.
Seven U.S. states have a prevalence of adult long COVID that surpasses 8.8%, according to survey data published by the CDC.
The national prevalence of long COVID among adults who responded to the telephone survey in 2022 was 6.9%.
Previous studies have produced higher estimates of long COVID in the U.S., including one published in MMWR last August that showed the rate of long COVID declining from 18.9% in June 2022 to 11% in June 2023.
Survey results published last January indicated that nearly 20 million U.S. adults may have long-lasting symptoms from COVID-19. Researchers designed a scoring system that may help clinicians diagnose long COVID based on the presence of 12 symptoms.
The new survey included only adults, but experts have also been trying to raise awareness about pediatric long COVID, which affects an estimated 5.8 million children.
According to the results of the new survey, West Virgnia has the highest long COVID prevalence of any state at 10.6% (95% CI, 9.5%-11.8%). The other six states with a prevalence higher than 8.8% were Alabama, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming.
The U.S. Virgin Islands had a prevalence of 1.9% (95% CI, 0.9%-4.1%), lower than any state. Guam, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., were the only other locations with a prevalence below 3.7%.
Long COVID was generally less prevalent in New England, where Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine all fell between a prevalence of 3.7% to 5.3%. Two states in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington, also fell in that range.
The authors said the findings could help address gaps in knowledge about long COVID in the U.S.
“Given the increased health care needs among persons experiencing long COVID, ongoing assessment of state- and territory-level prevalence data could guide policy, planning, or programming. State-level estimates might also help identify geographic disparities in long COVID across the United States that could guide interventions to promote health equity.”
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