Corona: Long Covid affects women and men differently

Created: 09/27/2022, 08:00

By: Judith Brown

Anyone suffering from Long Covid has to struggle with its effects long after a corona infection.

However, it is different for men and women.

For many corona sufferers, the suffering after an infection is far from over.

Difficulty concentrating, physical exhaustion and taste and smell disorders can be long-term consequences of Covid-19.

The symptoms of the so-called long Covid syndrome are very similar to those of diabetes.

However, according to a recent study, the signs seem to differ between the sexes.

Corona: Long Covid affects women and men differently

Women suffer from fatigue more often than men.

© Seva Levytsky/IMAGO

For the study published in the journal

, researchers from the Charité Berlin and the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Campus Kiel, examined the long-Covid symptoms.

When they evaluated the data from around 1,000 people who were proven to be infected, they found a difference between women and men.

Accordingly, women, for example, are more frequently affected by chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), also known as fatigue.

In particular, younger women aged 18 to 24 showed these symptoms.

Of the study participants, a total of 19 percent of those infected suffered from the syndrome.

Fatigue patients quickly feel exhausted and suffer from a strong feeling of weakness.

This often makes it difficult for them to go about their jobs and everyday activities, such as shopping and cleaning, for weeks or months.

According to Prof. Walter Maetzler, deputy director of the UKSH Clinic for Neurology and one of the study leaders, it was shown that the fatigue syndrome is less pronounced the longer ago the disease was diagnosed.

This, in turn, means that the symptoms should decrease over time.

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Long Covid: Women suffer more from fatigue, men from memory disorders

According to the study, men suffer more often from cognitive impairments such as memory and concentration disorders than women.

Overall, the symptoms appeared in 27 percent of those infected, with these occurring more frequently in older men.

"It is now interesting for us whether the cognitive deficits remain permanent or whether they regress.

The question is also open as to whether dementia occurs earlier in older people due to a Sars-Cov-2 infection," says Maetzler.

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The scientists also found that half of the patients between the ages of 25 and 54 suffered from both symptoms, i.e. cognitive disorders and fatigue.

However, both symptoms occurred simultaneously in only a few of the elderly.

The researchers therefore suspect that the two widespread long-term effects of corona are triggered by different factors.

This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication.

In no way does it replace a visit to the doctor.

Unfortunately, our editors are not allowed to answer individual questions about clinical pictures.