Increased Body Weight Puts You At Higher Risk of Long Covid: UK Study

Women having higher Body Mass Index (BMI) are more likely to experience long COVID than men.

People with post-COVID conditions can have a wide range of symptoms that can last more than four weeks or even months after infection. Image used for representation.

(Photo: iStock)

Women having higher Body Mass Index (BMI) are more likely to experience long COVID, and more likely to need lasting care at the National Health System (NHS), a new study from University of East Anglia (UEA) shows. The study further said that women are more likely to experience long COVID than men.

But, what is it? When the symptoms of Covid-19 persist longer than for 12 weeks, a complex condition develops characteristed by the following:

• Breathlessness

• Cough

• Headaches

• Severe Fatigue

• Chest Pain

Other symptoms may include chest tightness, brain fog, insomnia, dizziness, joint pain, depression and anxiety, tinnitus, loss of appetite, headaches, and changes to sense of smell or taste.

Big numbers:

• Out of the 1,487 participants, 774 experienced at least one symptom of long COVID.

• More than a half of the survey respondents who tested positive for COVID in the East of England during the first year of the pandemic went on to report long Covid symptoms.

• People with Long Covid are over three times more likely to use healthcare services than those who didn't display long Covid symptoms.

Chest tightness or Chest Pain are symptoms of Long Covid. 

(Photo: iStock)

What they said:

"All of these people were infected in the months before the Covid vaccination programme was rolled out and they suffered from numerous new symptoms that were not present before their Covid infection," said Professor Vassilios Vassiliou, from UEA's Norwich Medical School.

Just over two million people in the UK are thought to suffer with long Covid and it affects people in different ways.

Professor Vassilios Vassiliou

What's next:

The study could be the first step in helping countries prepare for healthcare that can handle long COVID patients.

"We also found that people with long Covid were over three times more likely to use healthcare services than those who didn't display long Covid symptoms," Vassiliou added.