Factors such as age, gender, BMI and pre-existing conditions can put people at higher risk of having persistent Covid or prolonged Long Covid, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine.
Carried out in the UK, the work found that certain groups of people are at significantly higher risk of developing persistent Covid, which is thought to affect millions worldwide.
The researchers examined the results of 41 published studies, which collected data from more than 860,000 patients. They found that factors such as age, gender, BMI, and pre-existing conditions were associated with increased risk of prolonged Covid symptoms that persist three or more months after infection.
The information reinforces that the female gender and advanced age serve as risk factors for developing prolonged Covid.
Researchers led by Vassilios S. Vassiliou, from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, believe that a possible common link between various risk categories is pre-existing inflammation, which can extend the acute phase of Covid, even after recovery.
Women
Over 40
people with obesity
Smoker
Immunocompromised people before Covid
People who were hospitalized with Covid
People who had anxiety, depression, diabetes, asthma or COPD before Covid
In the case of women, they write in their article, hormones could play a role in the inflammatory state, while obesity shares a pro-inflammatory profile with persistent Covid.
The study also shows data hopeful: at least two doses of the vaccine seemed to reduce the risk of developing long Covid.
Other studies had reached similar conclusions, such as a study that found that those with two doses of the Covid vaccine had a 42% lower risk of developing persistent Covid.
With more than 200 symptoms identifiedFrom persistent cough and fatigue to numbness in the ear and a feeling of ‘brain fog’, persistent Covid is not one but multiple conditions.