How common is long COVID? A new study provides fresh clues

LOS ANGELES — One in 10 people infected with the coronavirus during the omicron era suffered from long COVID, according to preliminary data from a new study — indicating the syndrome remains a notable threat even in the pandemic’s post-emergency phase.

The initial finding, published May 25 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was based on 2,231 patients who had their first coronavirus infection on or after Dec. 1, 2021, when the omicron strain started to dominate the nation.

Of them, data indicate that 224 patients, or 10%, were classified as having long COVID six months after their acute infection. The categorization was made after scientists developed their own data-based definition of the syndrome, based on a number of symptoms that were more likely to be seen in patients with a prior coronavirus infection.

The effort, scientists said, was an important step toward better defining long COVID, which can be hard to pinpoint because it can’t be easily diagnosed or tested for — unlike, say, a heart