Identifying and mitigating the public health consequences of meta-ignorance about "Long COVID" risks, 2025, Motta et al.

Identifying and mitigating the public health consequences of meta-ignorance about "Long COVID" risks
Motta; Callaghan; Padmanabhan; Ross; Gargano; Bowman; Yokum

OBJECTIVES
While past work studies public concern about "Long COVID," fewer have asked what the public knows and/or purports to know about Long COVID. This is an important oversight, as low knowledge and/or "meta-ignorance" (Dunning Kruger Effect; DKE) concerning Long COVID might undermine public willingness to take action to protect themselves and others from endemic COVID-19.

STUDY DESIGN
In a nationally representative survey of US adults, we measure the correspondence between Americans’ objective and perceived Long COVID knowledge.

METHODS
We estimate a series of multivariate regression models that assess (a) the socio-demographic correlates and (b) public health consequences of Long COVID meta-ignorance.

RESULTS
We detect prevalent meta-ignorance about Long COVID. Greater than one fifth of Americans express high confidence in their perceived Long COVID knowledge, despite exhibiting lower than average objective knowledge. The expression of DKE is associated with a series of deleterious public health and health policy outcomes, including: opposition to workplace COVID-19 vaccine mandates, annual COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and an increased likelihood of being sick with Long COVID.

CONCLUSION
Our work provides novel insights into the promises and potential limitations of health communication efforts to provide the public with basic facts about the causes and consequences of Long COVID.

Link (Public Health) [Paywall]

 

I think it’s paywalled unfortunately.

 

Their first question isn’t too well established knowledge to be honest.

 

Well, since nobody knows much about Long Covid, do we need all these fancy words?

 

Isn't it? It seems like every study that looks at this finds the same thing.

Question for reference: "People who have had severe infection with COVID-19 tend to be more likely to develop Long COVID than those with less-severe infections. (Correct = Yes)"

Edit: I searched for some reviews on this topic:

Prevalence and risk factors for persistent symptoms after COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2024, Clinical Microbiology and Infection)

Identification of risk factors of Long COVID and predictive modeling in the RECOVER EHR cohorts (2024, Communications Medicine)

Defining the Subtypes of Long COVID and Risk Factors for Prolonged Disease: Population-Based Case-Crossover Study (2024, JMIR Public Health and Surveillance)

Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 in Children (2024, Pediatrics)

Risk factors for long COVID in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2024, World Journal of Pediatrics)

 

First question being: "People who have had severe infection with COVID-19 tend to be more likely to develop Long COVID than those with less-severe infections. (Correct = Yes)"

More people may develop LC from mild (or even asymptomatic) infections because that is so much more common than severe acute infections. But for an individual a severe acute infection would be more likely to result in LC than a mild acute infection. This is bearing in mind that the "LC" may be organ damage such as lung fibrosis rather than the ME/CFS phenotype.

 

I don't really know where the public is supposed to know anything about LC, especially when 99% of health care professionals either know nothing, or understand it so incorrectly that they may as well know nothing. In fact I expect the professionals to know less than the general public, simply because of the number of people who have experienced it, while professionals seem either uninterested or are advised to downplay it.

Because it really doesn't matter if the public knows much when the reason they don't is because the professionals are missing in action and seem more interested in covering it up than doing anything about it. At best it reflects the failure of medicine. And it sure has failed miserably in every regard.

 

It’s the same in Norway. Even though the public data very clearly shows that most of it is caused by LC.