Long Covid patients and those suspected of suffering from the condition 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% of adults said they may have experienced long Covid when polled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) between April 7 and June 13, with 30% reporting moderate to severe depressive symptoms in the last two weeks.
This compares to 16% of respondents who did not think they had contracted coronavirus.
A quarter were likely to have some form of anxiety, compared with 15% of people not believed to have been hit by Covid.
People who may have had long Covid were also more likely to say their wellbeing, work and household finances had been affected.
Women, disabled adults, those aged between 30 and 49 and those living in the most deprived parts of England were more likely to claimed they had suffered from long Covid.
Those who said they may have had long Covid were more likely to report often or always feeling lonely (10%) compared to people who do not think they have ever had the virus (6%). They were also more likely to say their work had been affected by the pandemic.
Tim Vizard, ONS principal research officer, said: “Although no single definition of long Covid exists it is likely it affects people in different ways and research is already showing the potential impacts on physical health.
“Today’s research highlights the potential for people’s mental health, well-being or work to be impacted by long Covid.
“We’ve found more people who may have had long Covid report negative impacts, however more work is needed to disentangle the effects of long Covid from a variety of factors such as age, sex or disability.”
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