Long Covid linked with depression
People who have had or suspect they may have had long Covid are almost twice as likely to have experienced depression as those who do not think they have ever contracted coronavirus, research suggests.
Some 6.2 per cent of adults said they may have experiencedlongcovidwhenpolled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) between April 7 and June 13.
Of these, 30 per cent reported experiencing moderate to severe depressive symptoms in the last two weeks.
This compares to 16 per cent of respondents who did notthinktheyhadcontracted coronavirus.
A quarter (25 per cent) were likely to have some form of anxiety,comparedwith15per cent of people not believed to have been hit by Covid.
The ONS said it is not possible to infer cause-and-effect relationshipsfromtheresults, warning that associations couldbetheresultofotherfactorssuchasage,sex,disability status or deprivation level.
People who may have had long Covid were also more likely to say their wellbeing, work and household finances had been affected.
The ONS pooled ten waves ofdataon39,268respondents aged16yearsandoveringreat Britain.
Thetotalproportionofthose whomayhavehadlongcovid wassplitinto3.6percentwho said they had experienced long Covid, and 2.6 per cent who said they were unsure.
Women, disabled adults, those aged between 30 and 49 and those living in the most deprived parts of England were more likely to say theymayhavehadlongcovid.