'Long Flu' Identified as Serious Long-Term Health Risk Similar to 'Long COVID'

Patients hospitalized for either COVID-19 or seasonal influenza face increased risk of death, hospital readmission, and long-term health problems, with COVID-19 posing a significantly higher risk.

New research reveals that 'long flu' is a real condition, similar to 'long COVID', with patients experiencing long-term health problems after severe influenza infection.
The study found that in the 18 months after infection, patients hospitalized for either COVID-19 or seasonal influenza faced an increased risk of death, hospital readmission, and health problems in many organ systems.
COVID-19 patients faced a 50% higher risk of death than flu patients in the year and a half following their initial infection, corresponding to about eight more deaths per 100 patients.
COVID-19 patients also had a greater risk of landing back in the hospital than flu patients, with 20 more hospital admissions and nine more ICU admissions for every 100 people in each group.
Both COVID-19 and the flu led to long-term health problems, with the magnitude of long-term health loss eclipsing the problems that these patients endured in the early phase of the infection.

South China Morning Post