In Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Dutch scientists report that the definition of post-COVID condition (PCC, or long COVID) matters when estimating prevalence in a population.
In people who had previously tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the prevalence of long-term symptoms varied from 26.9% to 64.1%, depending on which of six different definitions was used, while in those who tested negative, the prevalence varied from 11.4% to 32.5%.
The study was based on participant results from the Prevalence, Risk factors, and Impact Evaluation (PRIME) post-COVID-19 condition study conducted in November 2021. A total of 61,655 adults responded to a questionnaire that tracked 44 PCC symptoms since the time of their positive or negative COVID-19 tests.