Women In Their 50’s And Covid-19: What Do You Need To know?

Just a year ago, Covid-19 was a terrifying new disease that we knew little or nothing about.

We’re still no experts in this virus, but we are learning more about it every day and this is putting us in a good place to fight back.

When it comes to women in their 50’s and Covid-19, are you aware of the risks and what you should be doing to protect yourself? Remember, when it comes to this virus, knowledge is definitely power.

Covid-19 and age

When it comes to Covid-19, it has come as no surprise that age and vulnerability are correlated – that means that the higher your age, the more vulnerable you are to not only catching the disease, but in suffering from the long-term effects.

Very few people under the age of 50 will die from the disease and the risk after 70 skyrockets, which is why those who are older need to take extra precautions to protect themselves – and everyone else should be taking precautions not to put them at any additional risk.

What does this mean for those in their 50’s? At this time of life, you’re by no means elderly but you no longer have the innate protection that youth affords the lucky.

It means that the risk is higher for you than the general population and so taking precautions is imperative to protect yourself from the knowns – and unknowns – of the virus.

This includes what is now known as “Long Covid”. If you haven’t heard of this, you’re not alone – in fact, the results from one of the first studies conducted on it have only just been released and we have those details for you here.

What is Long Covid?

According to Nice (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), “Long Covid” is defined as the condition with symptoms that last longer than 12 weeks and cannot be explained by another condition.

The symptoms that a person can struggle with usually cluster around certain areas of the body, but they can be just about anything, from persisting fever to respiratory issues.

In some cases, you might feel very tired or even struggle with pain in certain areas of the body for long periods of time – there’s no way to tell how this might impact a single person.

Along with the variation in symptoms, the severity of these symptoms can also differ from one person to the other.

It’s important to remember that this definition of “Long Covid” could end up changing over time – after all, we are still getting to know this virus and how it impacts us.

One surprising finding that has only just emerged, for example, is that Women in their 50’s after more likely to suffer from “Long Covid” than any other segment of the population – this is even compared to those in the elderly populations.

Long Covid and Women in their 50’s

According to recent research, women in their 50’s appear to be twice as likely as men to struggle with long term symptoms of Covid-19 (that’s those symptoms that last for longer than a month) and that’s a significant number!

It seems, however, that after 60 years of age, this number drops right back down and becomes similar when compared to males in their age group.