Long COVID-19 is often overlooked in older people despite the age group being at a higher risk to develop symptoms, The Washington Post reported June 26.
"The challenge is that nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, pain, confusion and increased frailty are things we often see in seriously ill older adults. Or people may think, 'That's just part of aging,'" Charles Thomas Alexander Semelka, MD, a postdoctoral fellow in geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C, told the Post.
Mounting research suggests that older adults are more susceptible to developing long COVID-19.
A Feb. 9 study published in The BMJ found that 32 percent of older survivors of the virus have lasting symptoms up to four months after infection. The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from May 27 said 1 out of every 4 older adults who survived the virus experienced at least 1 of 26 common long COVID-19 symptoms.