Long covid

Risk of long covid increases depending on age and sex new study reveals

A new study has revealed that women, those aged between 50 and 60 years old, and people who experienced poor pre-pandemic mental and physical health are more at risk of long Covid-19.

The new research analysed data from 10 long-term UK studies carried out before the pandemic – the data from these studies was then combined with 1.1 million anonymised electronic health records from general practice in England.

The researchers used said information to investigate the potential relationship between demographic and certain health characteristics, such as age, sex, and any existing medical conditions, with the prevalence of long Covid-19 within the group.

The researchers discovered that the amount of people who self-reported having Covid-19 and those who also reported symptoms that lasted longer than 12 weeks ranged between 7.8% to 17% – 1.2% to 4.8% reported “debilitating” symptoms.

Chief Investigator Professor Nishi Chaturvedi, from University College London, said: “Getting consistent findings from this combination of many different studies gives us greater confidence that our findings are robust, which is critical given that we know so little about long Covid-19.”

The report also found that as age increases so does the likelihood of experiencing long-Covid-19. The proportion of people reporting symptoms for 12 weeks or more was approximately one in 13 (7.8%) for younger adults, whilst it rose to around one in six (17%) for middle-aged people.

The study also revealed that women were 50% more likely to report long-Covid-19 than their male counterparts, whilst non-white ethnic minorities were around 70% less likely to report long-Covid-19.

Being asthmatic, overweight or obese, or having poor pre-pandemic mental or physical health were also noted factors that increased the risk of long-Covid-19.

First author, Dr Dylan Williams, also at University College London, added: “Our findings hint at the mechanisms behind long Covid. Next, we need to identify the predispositions that might explain, for example, why women or individuals with asthma appear to be at higher risk. Could a liability to suffer from autoimmunity or allergies play a role? Establishing concrete research avenues to go down will eventually lead to benefits for people with long Covid.”

The aforementioned research was conducted as part of UK Research and Innovation and the National Institute for Health and Care Research joint-funded CONVALESCENCE study.

More information about the study and its findings is available here.

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