News Scan for Jun 29, 2022

UK study shows long COVID more common in women, adults 50 to 60Symptoms of long COVID are more frequently reported by women, those with poor overall health before the pandemic, and those aged 50 to 60, according to a new UK-based study in Nature Communications.The study was based on results gathered from 6,907 people with self-reported COVID-19 from 10 population-based longitudinal health surveys in the United Kingdom that had been in place prior to the pandemic.The proportion of participants reporting symptoms for longer than 12 weeks post-acute infection ranged from 7.8% to 17.0%, with 1.2% to 4.8% reporting debilitating symptoms.Women were more likely to report long COVID symptoms compared to men, as were those with poorer pre-pandemic mental health and overall health.

Participants who were obese or had asthma were also identified as more at risk for long COVID.The authors compared these responses with electronic health records of 1.1 million UK residents in the spring of 2021, which showed that only 4,189 people also had a recorded long COVID code, constituting 0.4% of COVID-19 cases."While just 0.3% of COVID-19 cases had long COVID codes in primary care, up to 17% of adult COVID-19 cases in midlife reported symptoms attributed to COVID-19 for more than 12 weeks in longitudinal studies," the authors concluded. "Our findings justify further investigations into the role of sex difference, age related change, and/or immunity and respiratory health in development of long COVID.

Older working individuals, with high levels of comorbidity, may particularly require support." Jun 28 Nat Commun studyPersistent symptoms common after COVID-19 in children, MIS-CMore than one in four children hospitalized with acute COVID-19 or