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The risk of developing long COVID, or post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), has decreased substantially over the course of the pandemic, according to an analysis of Veterans Affairs data.

During the pre-Delta era, there were 10.42 cases of long COVID per 100 unvaccinated people at 1 year after COVID-19 infection, decreasing to 9.51 cases during the Delta variant era, and dropping to 7.76 cases per 100 unvaccinated people during the Omicron era, Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, of the VA St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, and colleagues reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Rates of long COVID among people who had received a vaccine were lower, and also decreased over time. During the Delta era, there were 5.34 cases of long COVID per 100 vaccinated people 1 year after infection, dropping to 3.5 cases per 100 people during the Omicron era.

"The good news is that PASC declined," Al-Aly told MedPage Today. "But literally millions of people get infected in the U.S., and many more around the world, so 3.5% is sizeable when multiplied by the number of COVID infections." Head over to MedPage Today to read more about it.