The findings of a study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine showed that the risk of long-term COVID was strongly associated with area-level deprivation. The researchers noted that the odds of having a long COVID were 46% higher for people from the most deprived areas in comparison to those living in the least deprived areas.

In the study, the researchers analyzed the data collected from over 2,00,000 working-age adults. They noted that this was the first study to quantify the association between long-term COVID and socioeconomic status across a range of occupation sectors.

The researchers discovered that females had a greater risk of long-term COVID in comparison to men. However, the risk of long-term COVID in females in the least deprived regions was equivalent to that of males in the most deprived areas. The findings of the study also showed that people living in the most deprived areas and working in the healthcare and education sectors had the highest risk of long-term COVID compared to those in the least deprived areas.

The study, however, found no statistically significant link between the risk of long-term COVID and the most and least deprived regions for those working in the manufacturing and construction industries. The researchers stated that the findings of the study highlighted the necessity to frame a wide variety of public health measures following COVID-19 recovery that included all the different social dimensions. 

(Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/long-covid-risk-46-higher-for-people-in-most-deprived-areas-study/articleshow/100157691.cms )