Research lists 62 symptoms of long Covid; see the relationship

At least 62 symptoms can be associated with long-term Covid, according to a study published this Monday (25) in the scientific journal Nature Medicine. On the list are problems such as lack of libido, difficulty in ejaculation, hair loss and insomnia.

“Although symptoms such as chest pain, fatigue and shortness of breath were commonly reported by patients living with long-term Covid, surprisingly we found some symptoms, such as hair loss and sexual dysfunction, reported more frequently among patients with a history of Covid-19. 19”, says researcher Anuradhaa Subramanian, one of the lead authors of the article Symptoms and risk factors for long Covid in non-hospitalized adults.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), long-term Covid cases are those in which individuals, weeks after being diagnosed with Covid, have symptoms that cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. They may persist from the initial illness or appear after initial recovery and often impact routine.

Conducted by scientists from the University of Birmingham in partnership with experts from UK entities, the research also points out that the risk of presenting symptoms three months after infection with the Sars-Cov-2 virus is higher among women, young people, smokers, obese people. and low-income. Asians and blacks are also among the most susceptible, according to scholars.

“Some of the observed risk factors may give clues as to how and why long-term Covid affects some people. The issue of autoimmunity has been discussed as a potential cause, and we know from the literature that it is more common in women. Furthermore, in the UK In the United Kingdom, chronic diseases are generally more common among people of minority ethnicities,” says Subramanian.

The study indicates that a history of problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, benign prostatic hyperplasia, fibromyalgia, anxiety, erectile dysfunction, depression, migraine, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, asthma and sinusitis also contribute to the development of long-term Covid.

“We observed in the office that patients with advanced age, overweight, smokers, who already had some difficulty in erection, in fact, had a significant worsening of sexual performance”, says doctor José Ailton Fernandes Silva, coordinator of the Department of Urinal Dysfunction at SBU (Brazilian Society of Urology).

He explains that, as the new coronavirus can affect nerves and the wall of blood vessels, it can compromise the performance of the bladder, leading to the urinary symptoms reported in the research. “I’ve had cases of patients with urinary retention who needed to use a tube for months because of flaccidity in the bladder muscle, which loses the ability to contract for urination”, he says.

Regarding the sexual issue, the urologist says that there are different theories. The first relates the brain repercussion of Covid, such as mental confusion and depression, with the reduction of libido and erection, while others work with the impact of the drop in physical vigor after the disease and with the hypothesis of reduced testosterone.

For the new study, the British researchers relied on data from 486,149 people infected with Covid and 1.9 million people uninfected, collected between January 2020 and April 2021. They then raised the most frequently presented problems. among outpatients and reached 62 symptoms (see below).

According to Subramania, because of the wide range of symptoms, many patients suffered from stigma and lack of knowledge about their condition.

The problem was also reported by Fiocruz researcher (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz) Minas Rafaella Fortini, who conducted another study on long-term Covid in Brazilian patients over 18 years of age.

The research, published in May in the scientific journal Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, counts 23 symptoms after the end of the acute infection, including fatigue, persistent cough, difficulty breathing, loss of smell or taste, frequent headaches, insomnia, anxiety and dizziness, in addition to cases of thrombosis.

“Health care professionals and researchers around the world, at first, stopped to think if the symptoms were really related to Covid-19 because they are very different from what patients feel in the infection. life, for example. So, at first, the focus was on recording everything: listening to all the reports, all the complaints”, says Fortini.

As patients underwent clinical evaluations that confirmed their health problems, it became easier to establish correlations. “We observed that, in many cases, there is a relationship of maintenance of the symptoms felt in the acute infection, the remaining symptoms, but we identified many new sequels, such as muscle pain. We also noticed cognitive issues, such as insomnia, lack of attention, difficulty in focusing and loss of memory, especially the most recent memory, in addition to conditions such as thrombosis and arterial hypertension”, reports the Fiocruz scientist.

She also highlights the high rates of long-term Covid among unvaccinated people. Among patients with the severe form of Covid, 33.1% had symptoms months after infection and, in mild and moderate cases, the rate was even higher: 59.3% and 75.4% respectively.

According to Fortini, new studies are being carried out, including a follow-up of vaccinated people that points to a reduction in the risk of developing Covid long after immunization. “The rate drops by at least half and, when there are sequelae, they are milder.”​