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Neurodivergence as a risk factor for Post-Covid-19 Syndrome

Raw, R. K.; Rees, J.; Pearson, A.; Chadwick, D.

2023-06-12 infectious diseases
10.1101/2023.06.08.23291154 medRxiv
Show abstract

Neurodivergent (ND) individuals (e.g., Autistic people) are more likely to experience health problems that are characterised by central sensitisation . Recent research suggests that a so-called Long-COVID syndrome might also be explained by a heightened response to internal physiological stimuli, much like in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Using a standardised assessment tool, we examined whether traits associated with Autism would predict long-term COVID-19 symptoms in 267 Healthcare Workers (HCW).. Higher autistic traits predicted COVID-19 symptoms that lasting more than 12 weeks regardless of formal autism diagnosis. A personality measure also showed that negative affect was associated with experiencing COVID-19 symptoms for 4-12 weeks, though the direction of causality in this case is uncertain. Limitations of the present study are 1) the retrospective nature of COVID-19 symptom reporting; 2) likely self-selection bias given the high number of HCWs who reported long-term COVID-19 symptoms; and 3) the gender-bias towards females in our sample.

Published in COVID (predicted rank #19) · training set

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