Background Understanding the potential burden of disease due to long covid is important for planning health services and for understanding the cost effectiveness of policy interventions to prevent COVID-19 transmission which carries a continuing risk of long covid. There is little evidence from Wales on the health deficits e.g. health related quality of life, to estimate the potential quality adjusted life year (QALY) losses from long covid.

Methods Data were collected by Cedar Health Technology Research Centre in Cardiff, which was facilitated by the Welsh Value in Health Centre and Directors of Therapies. Long covid service users from Wales answered an online survey about their health which included the EQ-5D-5L and had 1,113 responses. This study included analysis of EQ-5D index scores and EQ-5D VAS scores. Regression of EQ-5D index scores was used to identify associations of risk factors with lower EQ-5D index scores.

Results EQ-5D Index Scores were much lower for this long covid sample than the general population (0.502 vs. 0.856), which indicates a high level of health problems. Lower EQ-5D index scores (poorer health) were significantly linked with; depression/anxiety; long term sick; disabled. For those admitted to hospital, their EQ-5D Index Score was generally lower the longer they stayed in hospital. Depending on the length of time that health decrements were maintained for, the estimated QALY losses varied from 0.09 to 0.183 which would be valued at around £6,000-£13,000 using UK Treasury value of a QALY of £70,000.

Discussion Although this sample is not generalisable to all long covid patients beyond Wales, and we do not have data for before people had long covid, this analysis indicates a high level of health problems in this subset of the population. It adds to growing evidence base on the topic of long covid, which could further aid understanding of the condition and improve our planning for services post COVID-19, and policies for subsequent pandemics.