After more than two years of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic, there is increasing scientific evidence on the symptoms that many people experience long after overcoming the infection, a set of consequences known as persistent COVID, or Long Covid. Now, new research looking at the health records of 2.4 million people in the UK has added hair loss and sexual dysfunction with low libido and difficulty ejaculating, among other symptoms, to the health problems after COVID-19.
The study has been carried out by scientists from the University of Birmingham together with a team of doctors and researchers from across England, and their results suggest that the set of symptoms experienced by individuals with prolonged COVID is broader than previously believed, and that some groups of the population are more at risk of developing them. Specifically, patients with a primary care record of SARS-CoV-2 infection reported having 62 symptoms much more frequently 12 weeks after initial infection than those who had not contracted the coronavirus.
The study data was obtained between January 2020 and April 2021 and included 486,149 people who had had a previous infection and 1.9 million people with no signs of coronavirus infection after matching other clinical diagnoses. Focusing solely on patients who had not been admitted to hospital, the researchers identified three different symptom categories reported by people with persistent health problems after infection.
“Some of these new symptoms, like reduced libido, sexual dysfunction, and hair loss, are really new. They had not been attributed to long-term COVID-19 before.”
“We explored the effect of COVID-19 on 115 symptoms of which we found that 62 symptoms were statistically significantly associated with COVID-19 at 12 weeks. [o más] after infection” explained Anuradhaa Subramanian, a researcher at the Institute for Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham and lead author of the article. “Some of these new symptoms, like reduced libido, sexual dysfunction, and hair loss, are really new. They had not been attributed to long-term COVID-19 before.” “In addition to premature, delayed and retrograde ejaculation [cuando el semen ingresa a la vejiga en lugar de salir del pene]our definition includes painful ejaculation, delayed ejaculation, and fear of ejaculation,” says Subramanian.
Regarding hair loss, Dr Shamil Haroon, Clinical Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Birmingham and lead author of the study, said: “When your body is in a state of stress, it can cause hair growth. new, which paradoxically causes the existing hair to fall out.” “This is a condition called telogen effluvium. In this [condición] It’s not like a single patch of hair, but it’s kind of generalized hair loss, so it’s a potential mechanism for COVID-related hair loss.”
Most frequent symptoms of Long COVID
They observed that symptom patterns tended to be grouped into respiratory symptoms, mental health and cognitive problems, and a broader range, with the most frequent symptoms being anosmia (loss of sense of smell), hair loss, sneezing, difficulty ejaculate, decreased libido, breathing difficulties, fatigue, chest pain, hoarse voice and fever.
Among the people analyzed, 80% of patients had a wide spectrum of symptoms ranging from pain or fatigue to rashes, more than one in 10 (14.2%) had mainly cognitive symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, insomnia and mental confusion. And 5.8% of the participants suffered mainly from respiratory problems, such as cough, phlegm, shortness of breath and wheezing.
While other symptoms reflected by patients with persistent COVID were:
“This research validates what patients have been telling clinicians and policymakers throughout the pandemic, that Long Covid symptoms are extremely broad and cannot be fully explained by other factors, such as lifestyle risk factors. or chronic health conditions,” Haroon said.
“The symptoms we identified should help clinicians and clinical guideline developers better assess patients with long-term effects of COVID-19, and subsequently consider how this symptom burden can best be managed.”
People most at risk of experiencing prolonged COVID
The research, which has been published in Nature Medicine, has not only made it possible to identify a broader set of symptoms, but the researchers also found key demographics and behaviors that make certain people more at risk of developing Long Covid.
The paper’s findings suggest that women, younger people, or those who belong to a black, mixed, or other ethnic group are at higher risk of developing persistent COVID. In addition, people with low socioeconomic status, smokers, being overweight or obese, and the presence of a wide range of health problems were associated with the likelihood of persistent symptoms.
“Our risk factor data analyzes are of particular interest because they help us consider what might be causing or contributing to Long Covid. We already know that certain modifiable traits, such as smoking and obesity, put people at higher risk for various diseases and conditions, including Long Covid. However, others such as biological sex and ethnic origin also seem to be important”, said Anuradhaa Subramanian.
“Women, for example, are more likely to experience autoimmune diseases. Seeing the higher probability of women having Long Covid in our study raises our interest in investigating whether autoimmunity or other causes may explain the higher risk in women. These observations will help to further narrow the focus on what factors to investigate that may be causing these persistent symptoms after an infection, and how we can help patients who experience them.”
Dr Shamil Haroon concludes: “The results are a testament to the opportunities these public health datasets provide and the power of collaborative work to provide much-needed evidence about the experiences of many people who have been affected by persistent symptoms. after infection with the coronavirus. “I hope that our research will also further validate patient voices and engagement groups and provide a focus to support healthcare responses to new and emerging diseases.”
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