Long COVID patients face more than double healthcare costs after diagnosis

Long COVID patients face more than double healthcare costs after diagnosis

People with long COVID use the healthcare system significantly more often than before their diagnosis. These patients are more likely than people in other control groups to use primary care, outpatient, inpatient, and emergency room services—and the cost of health care use has more than doubled.

These are the findings of a major study that have serious implications for healthcare resourcing worldwide. Long COVID affects 1.9 million people in the UK and it is estimated that at least 65 million people worldwide had Long COVID after the first wave of the pandemic.

The study, published today, November 28, 2024, in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, analyzed how 280,000 people with long COVID in the UK access healthcare services. The researchers found that people with long COVID require a healthcare service that costs an average of £705 a year. Before being diagnosed with Long COVID, the same people had average annual NHS costs of £294.

For comparison, various control groups were examined in the study. This included over a million people with COVID - but not with long COVID. These people had average healthcare costs of £447 per year.

Of all the people considered, those with long COVID had the highest hospitalization rates over two years. Annually, people with long COVID had more general practitioner consultations (median 9.90) and outpatient appointments (median 1.07) per person than all control groups. The analysis showed that people with long COVID went to the emergency room more often than all control groups and were hospitalized significantly more often than all but a control group.

What makes Long COVID so costly for healthcare and incapacitating for patients is that it is a heterogeneous, complex disease that affects multiple organs. These are likely caused by multiple underlying mechanisms. And although scientific advances have been made, this new syndrome is still not fully defined.

Dr. Yi Mu from the Institute of Health Informatics at University College London, co-author of the study, said:

"Long COVID is a debilitating disease for patients that manifests itself in a variety of ways and has far-reaching consequences for those affected. In this context, it is understandable that people with long COVID have complex health needs and have significantly more access to services than others."

"Health care systems have been strained by the impact of Long COVID, overwhelming staff and infrastructure. Our study quantified these costs and found that people with Long COVID have health care needs spanning primary care, outpatient, inpatient and emergency departments, and that the average cost per person annually is more than double what it was before contracting COVID."

Government and policymakers must take immediate action. The treatment and prevention of long-COVID must be a priority in research, practice and policy.”

Dr. Ashkan Dashtban, joint first author of the study, Institute of Health Informatics, University College London

The study participants were adults who had long COVID between January 2020 and January 2023. Of the 282,080 people, the average age was 48, with the most common age group being between 40 and 59. There were no significant differences in social deprivation: 20.5% of people were among the most deprived and 18.8% of people were among the least deprived. The most represented were the North West of England (21.2%), London (14.4%) and the South West (14.2%).

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