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It is the most succinct and dispassionate name for long COVID: U09.9 — a medical diagnostic code created last year to allow doctors to document post-COVID conditions.
Now a large new study has analysed data from the first few months after the code took effect, and the results paint a sobering picture of long COVID’s serious and ongoing impact on people’s health.
Nancy Rose, right, contracted COVID-19 in 2021 and continued to exhibit long-haul symptoms.Credit:AP
Long COVID, a complex constellation of lingering or newly emerging symptoms that can last for months or longer after the initial infection, has become one of the most daunting legacies of the pandemic. Estimates of how many people may ultimately be affected have ranged from 10 per cent to 30 per cent of infected adults, but much remains unclear about the prevalence, causes, treatment and consequences of the condition.
Dr. Claire Steves, a clinical academic and physician at King’s College London, who was not involved in the new research, said the overall number of people who received the diagnosis was “huge,” especially given that the study covered only the first four months after the diagnostic code was introduced. “That’s probably a drop in the ocean compared to what the real number is,” Steves said.
The new study adds to a growing body of evidence that people with mild or moderate initial coronavirus infections, and those without any underlying medical conditions, can still experience debilitating symptoms ranging from breathing problems to extreme fatigue to cognitive and memory issues.
“It’s generating a pandemic of people who were not hospitalised but who ended up with this increased disability,” said Dr. Paddy Ssentongo, an assistant professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Penn State, who was not involved in the new study.
Jane Clark, a respiratory specialist physiotherapist at the Long COVID Clinic at King George Hospital in London - one of 83 set up to help patients suffering months after they were infected with COVID-19. Credit:AP
The analysis, based on what the report calls the largest database of private health insurance claims in the United States, found 78,252 patients who were diagnosed with the U09.9 code from the International Classification of Diseases between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31, and the vast majority of them had not been hospitalised for their initial infection.
The study, conducted by FAIR Health, a nonprofit organisation that focuses on health care costs and insurance issues, found that for 76 per cent of the patients, the initial coronavirus infection did not make them sick enough to require hospitalisation. Yet months later, they were experiencing symptoms that were diagnosed as post-COVID conditions.