Researchers at Sahlgrenska Academy examined 200,000 Swedish women's visits to primary care in the year before the pandemic. Common symptoms at those visits were dizziness, fatigue and pain, and the care provider was unable to make a specific diagnosis.
The study showed a correlation - the more healthcare visits a woman had before the pandemic, the greater the likelihood of later being diagnosed with post-COVID or fatigue syndrome. For those who had more than eight visits, the likelihood was five times greater.
Real symptoms
Agnes af Geijerstam, a physician at the Sahlgrenska Academy, says her experience is that many women feel that their symptoms are not taken seriously.
"It's not about people going to the health center unnecessarily, but about people who have real physical symptoms. It could be that they have an underlying sensitivity," she says.
At the same time, she highlights the difficulties in diagnosing long-term consequences of viral infections, such as post-COVID. The symptoms are often so common that they could be caused by many different conditions.
For broad criteria
According to Agnes af Geijerstam, today's diagnostic criteria are too broad. They include too many patients who do not have post-COVID.
In many of these cases, it was people who still have symptoms after primary care has exhausted all its methods. The question then is what resources should be allocated to remedy the problem.
The study challenges the image of post-COVID as solely a direct consequence of COVID-19. Agnes af Geijerstam notes that a background of ill health can play a role in who receives the diagnosis and that the pandemic, for many women, could be seen as a triggering factor.
The study was published in the scientific journal Journal of Primary Health Care.
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