Long Covid: Dr Sara Kayat discusses impact on children
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This includes how it affects people of different genders.
A study published in the Journal of Women’s Health has found there are some symptoms women are more likely to experience than men.
These include:
• Difficulty swallowing
• Fatigue
• Chest pain
• Heart palpitations.
Conducted by the University of Parma in Italy, the study ascertained breathlessness was the most common symptom of long Covid.
Furthermore, they established women were also more likely to experience this symptom than men.
97 percent of female patients experienced the symptom compared to 84 percent of male patients.
Why women experience these symptoms more than men is unclear.
Speaking about the differences the investigators said: “Long-term longitudinal studies are needed to fully understand the sex-related pathophysiology of the symptoms and the effects of pharmacological treatment related to long Covid.
“These studies will be crucial to understanding the natural trajectory of long Covid in order to implement targeted treatment strategies and to prevent bias in treating males and females”.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Virgin Commonwealth University Dr Susan Kornstein added: “While women have a lower mortality rate than men during the acute phase of Covid, this study indicates that women have a greater likelihood of experiencing long Covid syndrome”.
At the moment there are few treatments for long Covid, a condition people report coming in waves and varying from day to day.
Some people have found ways of treating it, however.
Ambulance worker Matthew Webb has described how taking a daily probiotic and food supplement has been “life changing”.
The emergency medical technician credits a trial led by a team of Cambridge scientists for his improvement.
Webb said of his improvement: “In three days, the difference was off the charts. I felt I had so much energy, the brain fog had cleared”.
Since starting the treatment Mr Webb has now regained the ability to work three days a week.
Mr Webb was one of the participants in a trial run by Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge where participants were given a phytochemical-rich concentrated food capsule.
Professor Robert Thomas, who led the study, said they administered concentrated natural substances found in common foods.
The results of these substances have been nothing short of life-changing for many: “We found participants had a two to three-fold improvement in the common symptoms, such as fatigue, cough, bowel problems, joint pain, which led to an overall improvement in wellbeing” said the Professor.
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