Study suggests women are at greater risk of developing long COVID-19

A study, led by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, found that women had a 31% greater risk of developing long COVID-19 symptoms than men.

The findings are part of a national initiative launched by the National Institutes of Health, called Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery, or RECOVER, to understand the long-term health effects of COVID-19.

“Also important to point out is that the females that were either pregnant or menopausal were the most affected,” said Dr. Zaki Sherif, a professor at the Howard University Medical Center, who participated in the study.

He said women between the ages of 40 and 54 had the highest risk of developing long COVID-19.

Worldwide, SARS-CoV-2, a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has infected more than 700 million people. An estimated 7 million people have died.

Although most people recover from acute COVID-19, a substantial number experience long-term effects, called long COVID-19. Symptoms include extreme exhaustion, neurological complications and digestive disorders.

Some studies have uncovered more than 50 long-term effects of COVID-19, including hair and vision loss.

This latest study followed 12,276 infected people over time to identify the risk of developing long COVID-19. Other studies have indicated that while men have more severe and fatal COVID-19 cases, women may be at greater risk for new and persistent symptoms.

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