Oct 16, 2021 (Japan Times) - Women are more likely than men to have long-term COVID-19 symptoms such as fatigue and taste disorders, a survey by the National Center for Global Health and Medicine has shown.
Women are about twice as prone to experience fatigue and about three times more likely to have hair loss, the study released Friday said.
The survey was conducted on former COVID-19 patients who took part in a study after their recovery between February last year and March this year, with 457 people responding. Questions covered subjects such as lasting symptoms, or long COVID-19, as well as initial symptoms.
Compared with men, women are also around 60% more likely to have taste disorders and about 90% more likely to have issues smelling, according to the survey.
Taste and smell disorders tend to be seen among young people or people with slim builds.
According to the survey, 120 people, or around 26% of the total, had post COVID-19 conditions six months after developing coronavirus symptoms, and 40 people, or some 9%, had long COVID one year after.
Some of the people who had mild COVID-19 symptoms suffered prolonged aftereffects.
“Men, older people and obese people are at higher risk of developing severe symptoms in the early stage of infection, but completely different groups have higher risks of aftereffects such as taste disorders,” said Shinichiro Morioka, head of the center’s international infectious disease response department. “The reasons are not known,” he said.
