Women who frequently sought care before the pandemic faced a much higher risk of postcovid. A new study from Sahlgrenska Academy examined visits by 200,000 Swedish women to primary care.
Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy reviewed primary care visits by 200,000 Swedish women in the year before the pandemic. Common symptoms included dizziness, fatigue, and pain, without a specific diagnosis from healthcare providers. The study found a clear link: the more visits a woman had pre-pandemic, the higher the likelihood of later being diagnosed with postcovid or exhaustion syndrome. For those with more than eight visits, the probability was five times greater. Agnes af Geijerstam, a doctor at Sahlgrenska Academy, stresses these are real physical symptoms. 'It is not about people going to the health center unnecessarily, but people with real bodily symptoms. They may have an underlying sensitivity,' she says. She highlights difficulties in diagnosing long-term virus effects like postcovid, as symptoms are common and could indicate anything. Current diagnostic criteria are too broad, encompassing many patients unrelated to postcovid, she says. 'In many of these cases, it involved people still experiencing symptoms after primary care had exhausted all methods. The question is then what resources they should allocate to address the problem.' The study challenges the view of postcovid solely as a direct covid-19 consequence. Agnes af Geijerstam notes that prior ill health may influence diagnoses, with the pandemic acting as a trigger for many women. The research was published in the Journal of Primary Health Care.
