New Delhi: Obesity or being overweight could be a symptom of long Covid with researchers finding a significant link between excess weight, and persistent neurological and mental health conditions in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 infection.
In May 2023, the World Health Organization declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency.
However, long Covid — in which symptoms persist for more than 12 weeks after disease onset — continues to be studied around the world for diagnosis and treatment.
The researchers, including those from the University of Brasilia, Brazil, show that among the nearly 1.4 lakh people involved in the 18 studies, being overweight had a significant link with persistent depression, headache, memory problems and sleep disturbances.
The findings of the study published in journal PLOS One showed that obesity was significantly associated with a persistent headache, problems with smell and taste and vertigo.
Researchers said that being overweight has been previously identified as a risk factor for experiencing long Covid, which can be debilitating and severely affect one’s quality of life.
“We anticipated some level of association between excess weight and post-COVID-19 symptoms based on prior evidence linking obesity with worse COVID-19 long-term outcomes,” author Debora Barbosa Ronca, a visiting PhD scholar at Edith Cowan University, Australia, said.
She said that the consistency of findings across a wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms – including memory problems, depression, sleep disturbances, and sensory impairments — is notable.
Ronca further said that while they did not perform subgroup analyses by ethnicity, the inclusion of studies from 23 different countries suggests the global relevance of the findings.
While the role of excess weight in COVID-19 is not fully understood, the authors said it could be due to an exaggerated inflammatory response or pre-existing genetic factors that the two conditions share.
In this analysis, the team looked at whether being overweight or obese was linked with experiencing neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms in long Covid.
The study underscores the significant physical and mental health burden faced by COVID-19 survivors having excess weight and obesity.
In the current post-pandemic scenario, affected individuals urgently need an enhanced, personalised care management, the authors said.
“Our systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrate that EW (excess weight) is significantly associated with post-COVID-19 neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms, including headache, memory issues, numbness, smell and taste disorders, vertigo, depression, and sleep disturbance,” the authors wrote.
Ronca said, “These symptoms of long COVID can significantly impact quality of life and may linger for months.”
The author said that as there are overlapping public health challenges in the post-pandemic era, such as long COVID, mental health issues, and rising rates of obesity, it’s essential to develop personalised and multidisciplinary care strategies to better support affected individuals.
The study also contributes to ongoing global efforts to understand biological processes responsible for long Covid, along with trends of the disease in populations (epidemiology), and identification.>
