{
  "abstract": "Background It is critical to disseminate all evidence on long COVID’s impact on people’s lives to inform policy and practice. We aimed to assess five measures of well-being, before and after SARS-CoV-2 infection between people with long COVID (defined as symptoms lasting more than 1 month) and people with short COVID (defined as symptoms resolving within 1 month).Methods Participants from the Optimise Study, a longitudinal cohort study in Victoria, Australia (September 2020–August 2022), had self-reported history of SARS-CoV-2 infection and self-reported long COVID status. Serial cross-sectional analysis compared participants with long and short COVID on Personal Well-being Index, number of COVID-19-like symptoms experienced, number of days exercised and frequency of experiencing positive and negative emotions.Results 217 participants were included, aged 20–86 years (median age 43, IQR: 31–57), 75% women. Compared with those with short COVID, participants with long COVID had lower well-being before (mean difference (MD)=−8.3, 95% CI (-14.7, –2.0), p-adjusted=0.07), during (MD=−10.3, 95% CI (–16.5, –4.0), p-adjusted=0.03) and after (MD=−9.91, 95% CI (–16.71, –3.11), p-adjusted=0.05) infection and experienced more COVID-19-like symptoms during infection (MD=1.72 (0.72, 2.72), p-adjusted=0.03). In December 2022, 71% (40/56) reported difficulty performing tasks in the past 4 weeks.Conclusion On average, we observed lower well-being among participants with long COVID, including before SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting an underlying difference in well-being between groups. Long COVID continued to impact physical functioning, but ongoing changes were not detected by personal well-being scales.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Aimée Altermatt"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Anna L Wilkinson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Katherine Heath"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Defeng Jin"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Thi Nguyen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Alexander J Thomas"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Tianhui Ke"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Yanqin Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Rebecca E Ryan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Lisa Gibbs"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Alisa Pedrana"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Dean Lusher"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "South Western Sydney and Sydney Local Health Districts Population Health, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Stephanie Fletcher-Lartey"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "La Trobe University Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Mark Stoové"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, VIC, Melbourne, VIC, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Katherine B Gibney"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Disease Elimination, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Melbourne, at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, VIC, Melbourne, VIC, Australia",
        "Department of Infectious Diseases, Alfred Health and Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Margaret Hellard"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Well-being among people with long and short COVID: a serial cross-sectional study in Victoria, Australia",
  "uid": "f6db270a-a3d1-576b-8f77-fe1a01ea2c6e"
}