Long-lasting symptoms include hair loss and difficulty ejaculating

A World Health Organization 33 long covid symptom set may be too restrictive, according to a 2.4 million health record survey

To Carissa won

Hair loss, decreased libido, and difficulty ejaculating can be unrecognized symptoms of Long CovidAccording to a survey of 2.4 million electronic health records.

World Health Organization (WHO) Long covid is defined as a set of 33 symptoms. It usually develops within 3 months of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the symptoms last for at least 2 months, but there is no alternative explanation.

Long covid studies suggest that the definition of the condition is different, but generally affects about 5 to 20 percent of people who had covid-19. These studies also suggest that long covids cover a wider range of symptoms than officially recognized by WHO.

“We investigated the effects of covid-19 on 115 symptoms and found that 62 of them were statistically significantly associated. COVID-19 In 12 weeks [or more] After infection ” Anurada Asabura Manian At the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. “Some of these new symptoms, such as decreased libido, sexual dysfunction, and hair loss, are really new. Previously, they were not due to covid-19 in the long run.”

Subramanian and her colleagues analyzed the health records of 486,149 people who were positive for covid-19 but were not hospitalized between January 2020 and April 2021. These primary care records were compared to the records of about 1.9 million people who did not test positive for covid-19. Participants were matched for a variety of factors, including age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, smoking status, obesity index, and other health conditions such as hypertension.

Participants who test positive for covid-19 may report any of the 62 symptoms of the study at least 12 weeks after infection compared to participants who did not test positive for covid-19. Was expensive. These symptoms included hair loss, decreased libido, and difficulty ejaculating.

“In addition to premature, delayed, retrograde ejaculation [when semen enters the bladder instead of emerging from the penis]Our definition includes painful ejaculation, delayed ejaculation, and fear of ejaculation, “says Subramanian.

It is unclear how exactly covid-19 leads to hair loss, but this can be caused by other infections such as seasonal flu and stressful events.

“When your body is under stress, it can lead to new hair growth, which in fact paradoxically causes your existing hair to fall off,” he says. Shamil Haroon At the University of Birmingham. “This is a condition called telogen effluvium. [condition] It is one potential mechanism of covid-related hair loss, as it is not like a single patch of hair, but rather a type of generalized hair loss. “

The problem of ejaculation and decreased libido is common in other chronic illnesses such as diabetes, but it is not well understood how sexual dysfunction occurs after a viral infection.

“People with other chronic illnesses often experience sexual dysfunction, and we find the same with covid-19, suggesting that covid-19 is a chronic illness,” says Haroon. increase. “But we haven’t looked at other viral infections as we’ve seen in the long Covid. I think this is what the long Covid has noticed. The viral infection is not just an acute event.”

Team analysis also revealed that people with long covids tend to have one of three types of conditions. Most commonly, people experienced a wide range of symptoms, including fatigue, rashes, and pain, which together affected about 80% of participants infected with covid-19.

More than 1 in 10 (14.2%) showed cognitive symptoms, mainly depression, anxiety, insomnia, and brain fog. In addition, 5.8% of participants had respiratory problems, mainly coughing, shortness of breath, and wheezing.

Haroon says understanding the full breadth of long-lasting symptoms and understanding their different types can help clinicians develop better treatment plans for patients with the condition.

Journal reference: Nature medicine, DOI: 10.1038 / s41591-022-01909-w