| COVID/coronavirus

COVID: New Symptoms & At Risk Groups

Validate the Voices of Patients

Researchers in England examined the electronic health records of 2.4 million people and found 486,149 people with prior infection vs 1.9 million people with no COVID. The results, published in Nature Medicine, note newer symptoms of long term COVID including:

  • Amnesia
  • Apraxia
  • Bowel incontinence
  • Sexual dysfunction: low libido and erectile issues
  • Hair loss
  • Hallucinations
  • Limb swelling

In addition, the team also recognized higher risk groups and behaviors potentially leading to long term COVID:

  • Female
  • Young people
  • Smokers
  • Black/mixed ethnic groups
  • Lower socioeconomic background
  • Higher weight

Senior study author Dr. Shamil Haroon, Associate Clinical Professor in Public Health at the University of Birmingham, commented, “This research validates what patients have been telling clinicians and policy makers throughout the pandemic, that the symptoms of Long Covid are extremely broad and cannot be fully accounted for by other factors such as lifestyle risk factors or chronic health conditions. The symptoms we identified should help clinicians and clinical guideline developers to improve the assessment of patients with long-term effects from Covid-19, and to subsequently consider how this symptom burden can be best managed.”

 

Read the press release.

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