Long COVID to blame for more than 3,500 deaths so far, CDC reports

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Unraveling the mysteries of the long COVID

Long COVID may leave 1 in 5 people infected with coronavirus with long-term symptoms 06:15

Thousands of death certificates previously tallied by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as COVID-19 deaths were actually linked to long COVID, the lingering symptoms some people struggle with for weeks, months or even years after their initial recovery from coronavirus infection.

New findings from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, released Wednesday, count at least 3,544 deaths involving long COVID through June 2022 — a number of researchers say that’s likely an underestimate of the true toll.

The tally represents just 0.3% of the more than one million COVID death certificates the agency has reviewed. They searched for key words in the reported cause of death related to what doctors call “post-acute sequelae of COVID-19” or PASC, including terms such as “chronic COVID”, “long COVID”, “COVID long distance” and “post COVID Syndrome.”

The understanding of how to classify these symptoms by coroners and physicians filling out death certificates has evolved over the course of the pandemic, they say.

“We have limited information on the long mortality from COVID,” NCHS chief Farida Ahmad, one of the report’s authors, told a panel of outside advisers to the agency in October. “There are currently no estimates of the number of long-term COVID deaths in the United States and this is due to a number of challenges. The lengthy COVID diagnostic guidelines are evolving over time as we understand the disease better, so there is no simple diagnostic test for long COVID.”

New federal guidelines aimed at standardizing the reporting of such deaths have yet to be released. Ahmad told the panel earlier this year that the agency plans to release its new recommendations based in part on the report’s findings. An NCHS spokesperson said the agency still plans to release new recommendations, but said there was no release date yet.

Nearly 8 in 10 reported COVID deaths have occurred in older adults, with Americans between the ages of 75 and 84 accounting for the highest percentage (28.8%) of those deaths. About 8 in 10 reported deaths were in whites, and rates among men were higher than among women in nearly every age group.

Reports of long-term COVID-related deaths have varied widely during the pandemic, with many reported around the Omicron surge last winter. The highest monthly toll was in February 2022.

More than two-thirds of deaths citing long COVID were on certificates citing COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death. Heart disease was the second most common underlying cause, cited in 8.6% of long COVID deaths.

Symptoms and toll of long COVID

Scientists continue to study how to diagnose and treat the wide range of reported long-lasting COVID symptoms, which can range from difficulty breathing to changes in the menstrual cycle. Some other common symptoms include fatigue; “post-exercise malaise”, i.e. feeling worse after exercise or exertion; “brain fog”, headache, cough, chest or abdominal pain.

Patients may present with organ damage that may persist long after the acute phase of the infection has ended.

A review by Veterans Affairs authors, published earlier this year, found that major organ damage ranges between 2% and 22% in studies of COVID-19 patients after leaving hospital. Some were at higher risk for new problems like strokes after being released.

An ongoing survey released by the CDC, in conjunction with the US Census Bureau, estimated in November that about 5.4% of adults report experiencing limits on what they can do due to long COVID.

However, simply counting the true prevalence of COVID remains elusive for scientists.

Officials say many people may not even know they’ve had a COVID infection until they develop symptoms, or they may struggle to determine whether they’ve recovered from their lengthy COVID symptoms.

Another NCHS project conducted in-depth ‘cognitive interviews’ with COVID-19 survivors, assessing how they respond to survey questions about persistent symptoms.

“Another follow-up question we asked was, ‘Are you still experiencing any of these symptoms now?’ One respondent replied, “I don’t know,” said Meredith Massey, an NCHS scientist participating in the interviews, at the agency’s October meeting.

“This respondent explained, ‘Probably, I have no idea. I don’t know if my taste has fully returned because the memory of what my taste used to be isn’t the same anymore,” Massey added.

Alexander Tin

CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic.

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