Publication date: Dec 01, 2025
To examine whether pre-pandemic diabetes is associated with an increased risk of Long COVID in a nationally representative UK cohort. We conducted a prospective cohort analysis using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. A total of 11,669 adults aged ≥ 16 years were followed from Wave 10 (2018-19) to Wave 14 (2022-23). The primary exposure, pre-pandemic diabetes, was defined at baseline (Wave 10) based on self-report of a doctor diagnosis. The primary outcome, Long COVID, was assessed at follow-up (Wave 14) and defined as self-reported symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks after a COVID-19 infection that could not be explained by another cause. Modified Poisson regression models with robust standard errors were used to estimate relative risks of Long COVID associated with pre-pandemic diabetes. Predictive margins were then calculated to obtain adjusted probabilities. At follow-up, 1,076 participants (9. 2%) reported Long COVID. In the unadjusted model, participants with pre-pandemic diabetes had a 36% higher risk of Long COVID compared with those without diabetes (RR = 1. 36, 95% CI: 1. 09-1. 69, p = 0. 006). After adjusting for age and sex, the relative risk increased to 1. 43 (95% CI: 1. 15-1. 79, p = 0. 002). In the fully adjusted model, which controlled for age, sex, ethnicity, education, income satisfaction, smoking, and other long-standing illness, the relative risk of Long COVID in participants with diabetes was 1. 60 (95% CI: 1. 27-2. 02, p
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Diabetes | Chronic illness |
| Doctor | Cohort study |
| Sex | Diabetes |
| Long COVID | |
| Post-COVID syndrome |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | long COVID |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | infection |
| disease | MESH | Chronic illness |
| disease | MESH | syndrome |