Women more likely to have lasting taste issues after covid-19 than men

Murugesu is a journalist by the name of jason arunn.

Up to 15 percent of women who experienced problems with smell and taste after getting covid-19 are likely to have problems with the senses for the rest of their lives.

The prevalence of smell and taste problems caused by covid-19 has been studied by Benjamin Tan and his colleagues at the National University Hospital in Singapore. The studies recorded people's symptoms over the course of their recovery.

Up to 14.7% of women are likely to have issues with smell and taste for at least six months after developing covid-19. The figure for men was less than 2%.

There are a number of reasons for this. He says that women have better smell than men. They might be more aware of a decrease in their smell and taste abilities.

Women have more oestrogen than men. According to Tan, it is known to promote the production of the ACE-2protein, which is used to enter cells.

The team found that people with covid-19 symptoms were more likely to have long-term issues with their sense of smell. It's not clear why this is the case, but Tan says it could be due to how the virus enters the nose.

The stronger the inflammatory response, the more congested the nose could be. He says this may be more difficult to recover from.

The team didn't have enough data to see if there were differences between people from different ethnicities.

The results seem plausible according to Shamil Haroon. It is interesting that the finding that nasal congestion increases the risk of persistent smell and taste is possible to cure.

There is a hypothesis that some long covid symptoms are being driven by over activity of mast cells, which can cause nasal congestion, and this could possibly be treated with antihistamines and/or nasal steroids.

The journal's title is "Bmj-2021-069503."

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