A new study identifies decreased sex drive and hair loss as symptoms of COVID

As if contracting COVID weren't bad enough yet, a new study from the University of Birmingham has revealed that people with the virus can experience symptoms, according to a press release from the organization published in late July. other long-term symptoms.

Confirming Patient Complaints

“This study confirms what patients have been telling clinicians and policymakers throughout the pandemic, that post-Covid symptoms are broad and cannot be fully explained by other factors. other factors such as lifestyle risk factors or chronic health conditions,” Dr. Shamil Haroon, Clinical Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Birmingham and lead author of the study.
“The symptoms we identify will help clinicians and clinical guideline developers improve their assessment of patients with long-term effects from Covid-19, and then consider how best to manage them. this symptom burden”.

To reach their conclusions, the researchers analyzed anonymized electronic health records of 2.4 million people in the UK taken between January 2020 and April 2021. This data set includes including 486,149 people who were previously infected and 1.9 million people with no signs of coronavirus infection after matching with other clinical diagnoses.

The scientists discovered three types of problems that can be classified into the following groups: respiratory symptoms, mental health, and cognitive problems. A variety of symptoms include anosmia, shortness of breath, chest pain, fever, memory loss, apnea, fecal incontinence, erectile dysfunction, hallucinations, hair loss, and edema of the limbs.

Understanding the complexity and pathology of post-COVID

“This research is instrumental to creating and adding value to understanding the complexities and pathology of post-COVID. It highlights the extent and diversity of symptom presentation among different clusters. Patients with pre-existing health conditions would also welcome additional analyzes of risk factors,” said Jennifer Camaradou, patient partner and co-author of this study.

Research continues to identify groups of people at higher risk of post-COVID, such as women, young people; or people of color, mixed, or other ethnicities.
“For example, women are more likely to have autoimmune diseases. The increased likelihood of women having persistent COVID-19 in our study increases our interest in investigating whether autoimmune or other causes could account for the increased risk. in women or not. These observations will help further narrow the focus to the factors to investigate that may cause these persistent symptoms after infection and how we can help patients who are experiencing them, Anuradhaa Subramanian, Research Fellow at the Institute of Applied Health Research, said.