Long COVID Symptoms May Include Hair Loss and Sexual Dysfunction, Study Shows

In all, researchers identified 62 commonly-reported symptoms among people with long COVID-19.

Hair loss, interjection difficulties, and a lower coitus drive have been linked as fresh long COVID symptoms, new exploration shows, further adding to the list of health issues that people can witness following a COVID- 19 infection. 

The study, published in Nature Medicine and led by experimenters from the University of Birmingham, set up that cases with a verified case of COVID- 19 more frequently reported 62 different symptoms in the 12 weeks after their infection, compared to those who had not contracted the contagion. 

" The main finding of the study is that cases present with a wide range of symptoms in the longer term after COVID- 19," super eminent study author Anuradha Subramanian, MSc, a exploration fellow at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Applied Health Research, told Health in an dispatch." We set up 62 symptoms in total to be associated with COVID- 19 in the longer term," 

 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC), nearly 8 of grown-ups in the U.S. experience long COVID symptoms, or symptoms lasting three or further months after their original sickness. The symptoms which were not present before COVID — generally start at least four weeks after infection. 

Subramanian said that while an expansive list of long COVID symptoms formerly exists, the new exploration supports and validates the broad range of symptoms cases are passing and have been telling croakers, family, and musketeers about since the epidemic began further than two times a gone

" This new information aims to validate cases' voices regarding the breadth of symptoms they witness," Subramanian explained." Their long- term gests post COVID- 19 are real and not simply an effect of lockdown or( the) epidemic passing in the background." 

Generally- Reported Symptoms of Long COVID 

Subramanian and her associates anatomized primary care data from further than2.4 million people in the U.K., collected between January 2020 and April 2021. The data included roughly,000 people who had a verified case of COVID but weren't rehabilitated, and about1.9 million grown-ups with no history of infection. Actors, on average, were 43 times old, and the maturity were white and womanish. 

After conforming for demographic factors, experimenters discovered 62 symptoms that were" significantly associated" with a history of verified COVID. The large number of symptoms allowed experimenters to group cases and their common symptoms into three orders broad- range symptoms( pain, fatigue, and rash), respiratory symptoms( gasping and briefness of breath), and internal health conditions( anxiety, depression, and brain fog). utmost people fell into the broad- range symptoms order( 80), followed by internal health conditions(14.2), and respiratory symptoms(5.8). 

Among the 62 different symptoms, some were seen more constantly than others. The most generally- reported symptoms include.

Anosmia( loss of sense of smell) 

•  Hair loss 
•  Sneezing 
•  interjection difficulty 
•  Reduced libido 
•  briefness of breath 
•  Fatigue 
•  casket pain 
•  Coarse voice 

Fever Although the study findings are not inescapably new or groundbreaking, the observed symptoms are harmonious and support once compliances — meaning, they can validate the wide variety of symptoms long COVID victims can and have come across after an original COVID infection, according to Alba Azula, MD, assistant professor of physical drug and recuperation at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Post-Acute COVID- 19 platoon. 

" The study looks simply at people that weren't rehabilitated, so it solidifies and strengthens the fact that long COVID can be in people that have a severe infection, but it can also be to people that have mild infections that were no way rehabilitated and that the symptoms are significant and there is a lot of variability,"Dr.  Azola told Health. 

Subramanian said further exploration is demanded to understand why some of these common symptoms honored in the study, including hair loss and low coitus drive are associated with long COVID. 

" While we haven't specifically explored these questions in our study, there are several propositions in place that might explain the compliances in our study, which need farther disquisition, similar as dysfunction in terms of an autoimmune response, habitual inflammation, continuity of the viral infection in the body, and clotting problems," Subramanian added. 

Groups at Loftiest threat of Developing Long COVID 

Beyond relating a wider set of symptoms, the exploration platoon established crucial demographic groups and actions that put people at an increased threat of developing long COVID. 

In looking at a slightly narrower pool of cases — about,000 people who contracted COVID- 19 — experimenters linked women, youngish grown-ups, people of color, people from low socioeconomic backgrounds, smokers, and people who are fat or fat as being likelier to develop long COVID. 

Cases with some habitual conditions, including habitual obstructive pulmonary complaint( COPD), fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and migraine were at a advanced threat of developing long COVID, as well. 

Although former exploration has linked certain adjustable threat factors for long COVID, like smoking and rotundity, the new exploration further validates natural threat factors, like coitus and race, too. 

" Women are, for illustration, more likely to witness autoimmune conditions," Subramanian said in a press release." Seeing the increased liability of women having long COVID in our study increases our interest in probing whether autoimmunity or other causes may explain the threat in women." 

Subramanian added that the same medium could be at play with cases of color and the habitual conditions — like diabetes and high blood pressure — they witness at advanced rates." It's likely that we're observing a analogous effect of prepping ethnical nonage cases to long COVID," she said. 

Seeing long COVID more generally in youngish grown-ups is also a bit of a riddle to investigators." It isn't straightforward why these( youngish) cases might be at advanced threat for long COVID," Subramanian said." We concentrated our study on non-hospitalized cases,( and) since aged cases are more likely to be rehabilitated post-COVID, then on-hospitalized aged grown-ups in our study may represent a healthier group." 

What This Means for the Future of Long COVID Treatment and Research 

Experimenters say they hope the study's findings will help further narrow the focus on factors that may be causing these continuing symptoms after infection and how to stylish help cases who are passing them. 

" I hope our exploration will(.) further validate the voices of cases and involvement groups and give an approach to support healthcare responses to new and arising conditions," elderly study author Shamil Haroon, PhD, MPH, a clinical elderly speaker at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Applied Health Research, said in a press release. 

Likewise, Subramanian said clinical trials are demanded to find implicit treatments for the different symptoms of long COVID, which can hopefully ameliorate the quality of life for people passing the condition. 

" Treatments targeting the specific types of long COVID donation might be the way forward," Subramanian said." At this stage, cases living with long COVID are the experts, and validating their different gests helps them feel heard."