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Long-COVID diagnoses and long-term symptoms among nonhospitalized adults were tied to 43% and 44% increases in the costs of primary care, respectively, in the United Kingdom, according to a study published yesterday in BMC Primary Care.

A team led by University of Birmingham researchers analyzed data in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink Aurum primary care database to estimate additional primary care costs of and risk factors for persistent COVID-19 symptoms at least 3 months after infection at the individual and national level.

The study, which included 472,173 COVID-19 survivors and an equal number of matched uninfected participants, used data from January 2020 to April 2021. Long-COVID (DLC) and symptomatic long-COVID (SLC) subgroups were made up of 3,871 (0.8%) and 30,174 (6.4%) patients, respectively. The average age was 44 years, 55% were women, 64% were White, and 55% were overweight or obese. 

Phone visits made up over 60% of costs

There were 209,620 (0.44 per patient) primary care visits among unexposed participants and 245,177 (0.54) among COVID-19 survivors, respectively. The exposed group had a 22.7% higher visit rate than the unexposed group. DLC and SLC subgroups visit rates were over three and six times higher, with incremental costs of £30.52 ($38.24 US) and £57.56 ($72.13) per patient, respectively.

The support of non-hospitalised individuals with long COVID in primary care is likely to be substantial, requiring significant healthcare investment and planning.

The annual incremental cost of primary care for long COVID was £2.44 ($3.06) per patient and £23,382,452 ($29.3 million) nationally. Relative to those without persistent symptoms, patients with long COVID and symptoms were associated with a 43% and 44% increase, respectively, in primary care costs. Phone consultations accounted for over 60% of total costs among all groups and were highest among long-COVID patients.

Risk factors for increased costs were older age, female sex, obesity, White race, chronic conditions, and more previous consultations.

“The support of non-hospitalised individuals with long COVID in primary care is likely to be substantial, requiring significant healthcare investment and planning,” the study authors wrote.