Scientists add two more new symptoms to fatigue and brain fog among the wider list of Long Covid symptoms

New research reveals that patients with Long Covid have had a broader range of symptoms than previously believed, including hair loss and sexual problems.

A study that came out today in Nature Medicine found that people who had been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 reported 62 symptoms much more often than people who hadn’t been infected with the virus 12 weeks after the first infection.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham worked with a team of clinicians and researchers from across England to analyze anonymized electronic health records from 2.4 million people in the UK. The study was funded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and UK Research and Innovation.

After matching for other clinical diagnoses, the data collected between January 2020 and April 2021 included 1.9 million individuals without any evidence of coronavirus infection and 486,149 individuals with a history of infection.

Using solely outpatients, the research team was able to identify three unique groups of symptoms described by individuals with persistent health problems following infection.

Patterns of symptoms frequently fell into three categories: respiratory symptoms, cognitive and mental health issues, and finally a wider variety of symptoms. While anosmia (loss of smell), shortness of breath, chest pain, and fever are among the most typical symptoms, other symptoms include:

• amnesia,
• apraxia (inability to perform familiar movements or commands),
• bowel incontinence,
• erectile dysfunction,
• hallucinations,
• limb swelling

“This research validates what patients have been telling clinicians and policy makers throughout the pandemic,” says Senior author of the study is Dr. Shamil Haroon, “that the symptoms of Long Covid are extremely broad and cannot be fully accounted for by other factors such as lifestyle risk factors or chronic health conditions.”

“The symptoms we identified should help clinicians and clinical guideline developers to improve the assessment of patients with long-term effects from Covid-19, and to subsequently consider how this symptom burden can be best managed,” adds the author.

“This study is instrumental in creating and adding further value to understanding the complexity and pathology of long COVID,” adds Jennifer Camaradou, the study’s patient partner and co-author. 

“It highlights the degree and diversity of expression of symptoms between different clusters. Patients with pre-existing health conditions will also welcome the additional analysis on risk factors.”

The research team not only discovered a broader range of symptoms but also significant demographic groupings and behaviors that raise a person’s risk of getting Long Covid.

According to the study, those who are female, younger, and who identify as black, mixed, or belonging to another ethnic group are more likely to acquire Long Covid.

Additionally, those with poor socioeconomic status, smokers, overweight or obese individuals, as well as those who had a variety of medical issues, were more likely to report chronic symptoms.

Lead author of the study and Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Applied Health Research, Anuradhaa Subramanian, stated:

“Our data analyses of risk factors are of particular interest,” says Anuradhaa Subramanian, lead author, “because it helps us to consider what could potentially be causing or contributing to Long Covid. We already know that certain modifiable traits such as smoking and obesity put people at increased risk of various diseases and conditions, including Long Covid.

“However, others such as biological sex and ethnicity also appear to be important.

“Women are for example more likely to experience autoimmune diseases. Seeing the increased likelihood of women having Long Covid in our study increases our interest in investigating whether autoimmunity or other causes may explain the increased risk in women.

“These observations will help to further narrow the focus on factors to investigate that may be causing these persistent symptoms after an infection, and how we can help patients who are experiencing them.”

The research team was able to identify post-SARS-CoV-2 infections at a particular stage of the worldwide pandemic thanks to patient records for 2.3 million patients. The study gives the scientists the chance to compare meaningful numbers of persons who had coronavirus infections with a control group of uninfected people during the first phase of the pandemic in the UK between January 2020 and April 2021.

The multidisciplinary team was made up of epidemiologists, clinicians, data scientists, statisticians, and patients. They worked together to decipher electronic health records so they could accurately record symptoms that lingered after an infection.

“The results are both a testament to the opportunities that these public health datasets provide,” adds Dr. Shamil Haroon, “and to the power of collaborative work to provide much needed evidence around the experiences of many people who have been affected by persistent symptoms after infection with the coronavirus.

“I hope our research will also further validate the voices of patients and involvement groups and provide an approach to support healthcare responses to new and emerging diseases.”

Image Credit: Getty

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