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Women face higher risk of long COVID, study finds
Although males experience more severe acute COVID-19, the research suggests that females have a higher risk of developing persistent long COVID symptoms.
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COVID-19 / Image - WHO
A recent study has found that females have a 31 percent higher associated risk of developing long COVID compared to males, with women aged 40 to 55 years facing the highest risk.
The research, published in JAMA Network Open is part of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) RECOVER initiative, which investigates the long-term effects of COVID-19.
The study followed 12,276 participants across 83 sites in 33 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, making it the largest cohort study on long COVID to date.
The study was led by Dimpy Shah, assistant professor of population health sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio). As the corresponding author, Shah emphasized the importance of considering sex-based differences in long COVID risk.
“These findings show that patients and health care teams should consider the differences in long COVID risk as it relates to sex assigned at birth. Understanding these differences can help us recognize and treat patients with long COVID more effectively,” Shah said.
“These findings show that patients and health care teams should consider the differences in long COVID risk as it relates to sex assigned at birth,” she added.
The study found that among women aged 40 to 55 years, the risk was even higher, with menopausal participants facing a 42 percent higher risk and non-menopausal participants facing a 45 percent higher risk compared to males. Researchers accounted for factors such as race, ethnicity, COVID-19 severity, vaccination status, comorbidities, and social determinants of health.
Other key contributors to the study include researchers from UT Health San Antonio, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Stanford University, Columbia University, and multiple other leading institutions.
The findings provide insights into the biological and social factors influencing long COVID, paving the way for improved prevention and treatment strategies. The full study is available on the RECOVER initiative’s publications page.
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