A study has found that women may have a 31 percent higher risk of developing Long Covid than men, with those aged 40-55 likely to be at the highest risk.
In women aged 40-55, the risk of long Covid was found to be even higher – 42 per cent in menopausal women and 45 per cent in non-menopausal women – the results of the ‘RECOVER’ trial, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed. Association (JAMA) Network Open showed.
Long COVID is estimated to affect about a third of people once infected with COVID-19, with symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog that persist after a rapid recovery period. The condition continues to be studied around the world, including its causes and treatments.
The researchers, led by researchers at the University of Texas in the US, followed more than 12,200 people (73 percent women) who reported their symptoms while answering questionnaires at their first study visit at least six months after infection. Participants were enrolled between October 2021 and July 2024.
The trial showed that the risk of long Covid was 31 per cent higher among all women except those aged 18-39 – regardless of race, ethnicity, Covid type and severity of viral infection.
According to lead researcher Thomas Patterson, a professor of medicine and chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Texas School of Medicine, the study helps identify risk factors for long COVID, which can lead to the often debilitating disease. Important to prevent and treat.
The researchers said there is a need to identify the biological processes contributing to gender-specific differences in long-term Covid that could help develop targeted drugs and improve the management of the condition.
Corresponding author Dimpy Shah, assistant professor of population health sciences at the University of Texas, said, “These findings suggest that patients and health care teams should consider differences in long-term COVID risk as they arise by birth.” Time is determined by gender.”
“Understanding these differences may help us identify and treat long-COVID patients more effectively,” Shah said.
While previous studies have shown that women are more prone to post-viral and autoimmune conditions, the researchers said, it is unclear whether the same is true for long-term Covid, especially in different age groups.
“This study gives us new knowledge and builds on other studies that have also looked at sex assigned at birth and long-term COVID,” Shah said.
“Because of the size of the RECOVER study and the diversity of participants, we had the unique opportunity to look at sex assigned at birth while considering things like vaccination status, autoimmune disease, diabetes, BMI, and COVID variant,” the corresponding author said. ,
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
