A new study that set out to investigate if the risk of long COVID differed depending on sex has concluded that females are more likely to develop the condition. Understanding how illnesses affect sexes differently can be a crucial step in identifying the biological mechanisms that are making people unwell, and in turn, can highlight new avenues of research that could lead to better therapies or even cures.
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In 2024, long COVID was given an official definition by a group of experts working with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). They concluded “Long COVID (LC) is an infection-associated chronic condition that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least three months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.”
The definition came with over 200 possible symptoms, demonstrating how tricky it’s been to define and manage with so many potential problems that need addressing. Tracking down solutions requires specificity, and one way we can reach a clearer picture of how long COVID works is by assessing if it affects different groups of people in different ways.
This latest study sought to tackle just that in examining how the risk of long COVID differed between females and males. To do so, they studied data from 12,276 participants provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER)–Adult cohort.
When they accounted for factors like age, hospitalization, and vaccination status (among others), the data revealed that females were 1.31 times more likely to develop long COVID compared to males. This suggests that there may be a biological explanation as to why the risk is greater, which could come down to hormonal differences, immune function, or a number of other factors.
Working out which possibilities hold water requires further investigation, but recognizing the difference in risk dependent on sex can help to narrow down future areas of focus. It also highlights which groups within the female sex may be at greater risk of experiencing long COVID, with those aged 40 to 54 showing a heightened risk compared to younger age groups.
The finding follows a recent study that concluded COVID-19 appears to be associated with a substantial rise in the number of ME/CFS cases. Using data from a long COVID research initiative run by the NIH, the scientists calculated that the incidence of ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) is now 15 times higher than pre-pandemic levels, and found that people with a history of COVID are almost eight times as likely to develop the chronic condition.
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The pandemic is now nearing its five-year anniversary, a grim milestone, but one that can perhaps be made less so as we discover more about how COVID-19 affects people in the long term, and how we might be better able to help them.
The study is published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Source Link: Females Have Increased Risk Of Long COVID, Says Study Of Over 12,000 Participants
