Characteristics and burden of acute COVID-19 and long-COVID

This dataset consists of 416 individuals (73.9% female) between the ages of 16 and 80 years (M = 44.18, SD = 12.90) with self-reported symptoms of long-COVID who participated in an online survey conducted between March and May 2022. <b><br></b><br>6.0%, 74.3%, and 19.7% of all respondents reported having had an asymptomatic, mild, or severe acute illness, respectively. Out of all participants, 7.8% required hospitalization. The most prevalent symptoms during the acute infection (Mdn = 23.50 symptoms, IQR = 13 - 39) included fatigue, exhaustion, cough, brain fog, and memory problems. The median long-COVID disease duration was 12.10 months (IQR = 2.8 - 17.4). Among 64 inquired long-COVID symptoms (Mdn = 17.00 symptoms, IQR = 9 - 27), participants reported fatigue, exhaustion, memory problems, brain fog, and dyspnea as the most common ongoing symptoms, which were generally experienced as fluctuating and deteriorating after physical or cognitive activity. Common consequences of long-COVID included financial losses (40.5%), changes in the participants’ profession (41.0%), stress resistance (87.5%), sexual life (38.1%), and mood (72.1%), as well as breathing difficulties (41.3%), or an increased drug intake (e.g., medicine, alcohol; 44.6%). In addition, vaccinated individuals exhibited a shorter acute illness duration and an earlier onset of long-COVID symptoms. In general, women reported more long-COVID symptoms than men.<br>