Younger, Middle-Aged Adults Face Higher Burden of Neurologic Long COVID Symptoms
The higher burden of neurological symptoms among younger and middle-aged adults translated to worse subjective quality of life, according to a recent study.
Younger and middle-aged adult patients are impacted more by neurologic symptoms of long COVID compared to older adults, according to recent research data published in the journal Annals of Neurology.1 The authors of the study said the findings support enhanced prevention, detection and treatment of long COVID in patients who are disproportionately affected.
Younger, Middle-Aged Adults Face Higher Burden of Neurologic Long COVID Symptoms / fizkes - stock.adobe.com
An estimated 17 million adults in the United States have long COVID, a number that has stayed relatively steady for the past year.2 According to a poll from KFF, 79% of adults with long COVID reported that it limits their activity either a lot or a little. And although 5% to 10% of adults in the country may continue to experience the condition at any point, research seeking to improve its diagnosis and treatment continues to lag.
READ MORE: CBT, Rehabilitation May Improve Symptoms of Long COVID
“The symptoms attributed to [long COVID] are widespread and multi-systemic, involving constitutional, respiratory, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, neurologic, psychiatric, and gastrointestinal systems,” the authors wrote. “The neurologic manifestations of [long COVID], also known as ‘Neuro-[Long COVID],’ may be particularly debilitating and contribute to a significant proportion of the morbidity and disability faced by [long COVID] patients.”
Investigators from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine conducted a study to characterize the neurologic manifestations of long COVID across the adult lifespan. The cross-sectional study evaluated patients seen at the Neuro-COVID-19 clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital between May 2020 and March 2023. The study aimed to assess neurologic symptoms, neurologic exam findings, quality of life, and cognitive performance among the patients.
The study cohort included 1300 patients who tested positive for SARS-COV-2 and had persistent neurological symptoms lasting 6 weeks or longer from the onset of COVID-19. Of the patients, 200 were post-hospitalization Neuro-Long COVID and 1100 were non-hospitalized Neuro-Long COVID. Patients were accepted for evaluation if they had any neurologic symptoms associated with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. The patients were separated into 3 age groups: 18 to 44 years, 45 to 64 years, and 65 years or older.
The study found that middle-aged patients made up most of the post-hospitalization group and younger patients made up most of the non-hospitalized group. In total, younger and middle-aged patients accounted for 71% of post-hospitalization patients and 90.5% of non-hospitalized patients. Patients had a median of 5 neurologic manifestations or symptoms attributed to long COVID. In the post-hospitalization group, younger adults had a higher number of symptoms with between 4 to 8, followed by middle-aged with 3 to 7 and older adults with 2 to 6. The number of symptoms between patients in the non-hospitalized group was not as significant.
Additionally, the higher burden of neurological symptoms among younger and middle-aged adults translated to worse subjective quality of life. Although older adults had the highest number of comorbidities and an increased frequency of abnormal neurologic exams, they had a lower burden of most neurologic and non-neurologic symptoms attributed to long COVID.
“While deaths from COVID-19 continue to decrease, people still get repetitive infections with the virus and may develop long COVID along the way,” Igor Koralnik, MD, a corresponding author on the study, said in a release.3 “Long COVID is causing an alteration in patients’ quality of life. Despite vaccinations and boosters, about 30% of COVID patients develop some long COVID symptoms. These findings have an immense public health impact, given that long COVID significantly contributes to the leading global burden of disability and disease caused by the neurological disorders.”
READ MORE: COVID-19 Resource Center
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References
1. Choudhury NA, Mukherjee S, Singer T, et al. Neurologic Manifestations of Long COVID Disproportionately Affect Young and Middle-Age Adults. Ann Neurol. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.27128
2. Burns A. As Recommendations for Isolation End, How Common is Long COVID? News Release. KFF. April 9, 2024. Accessed December 3, 2024. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/as-recommendations-for-isolation-end-how-common-is-long-covid/
3. New research shows younger and middle-aged adults have worse long COVID symptoms than older adults. News Release. Northwestern Medicine. November 22, 2024. Accessed December 3, 2024. https://news.nm.org/new-research-shows-younger-and-middle-aged-adults-have-worse-long-covid-symptoms-than-older-adults/
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