A study in Estonia has found a link between long COVID and chronic diseases
Researchers at the University of Tartu have identified a bidirectional association between long COVID and chronic diseases in Estonia. Existing chronic conditions were associated with a higher risk of prolonged symptoms following a coronavirus infection, and people with long COVID were more frequently diagnosed with conditions such as sleep apnea and heart rhythm disorders, according to ERR News.
The researchers analyzed medical and genetic data from nearly 210,000 donors in the Estonian Biobank. They compared the medical histories of more than 2,000 people with long COVID and approximately 200,000 participants in the control group.
Persistent COVID-19 symptoms were most commonly observed in people aged 40 to 59, and three-quarters of patients with long COVID were women. A higher risk of this condition was associated with being overweight, chronic kidney disease, asthma, and type 2 diabetes. People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had more than twice the risk of long-term symptoms.
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Throughout the pandemic years, patients with long COVID were more likely to develop new health problems. The risk of sleep apnea—interruptions in breathing during sleep—was three times higher. Heart rhythm disorders and thyroid diseases were also diagnosed more frequently. At the same time, the researchers acknowledge that this may be partly explained by such patients seeking medical care more often and, consequently, receiving more diagnoses.
The researchers paid particular attention to type 2 diabetes. Starting in the spring of 2020, the number of new cases of this disease in the general population began to rise sharply and exceeded previous mathematical projections. Among people with a higher genetic predisposition to severe COVID-19, diabetes was diagnosed 17% more frequently. The study’s findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.
