Thanks to improved treatment, the diagnosis of COVID-19 no longer sounds like a death knell. Now, a new study reveals that a person's white blood cell, or leukocyte, count may help identify who is most likely to become severely ill.
According to associate medical director Dr. Monica Christmas of The Menopause Society, this finding holds great significance, especially for women. As the authors point out, post-acute effects of COVID-19 can significantly affect quality of life, often resulting in severe disability. This is particularly true for women, who already have a higher risk of cognitive decline after menopause. Understanding the underlying factors can help us address these challenges and find ways to lessen the long-term impact, she explained.
Even after recovering from the primary infection, millions of people worldwide still suffer from symptoms of COVID-19, a disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The most frequent long-term effects are cognitive problems and fatigue. Up to 70% of patients reported suffering from memory and concentration impairments. Older adults, particularly women, seem most vulnerable.
Although much has been learned since the pandemic started in 2020, much remains unknown about the virus's effects on the body. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness by definition, but it has been shown to affect multiple organ systems and to trigger an overzealous immune response.
In this latest study, researchers performed a secondary analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative in order to get a better idea of why some people, specifically postmenopausal women, are more susceptible to prolonged and severe symptoms. They zeroed in on leukocyte count as a common marker of systemic inflammation to determine whether it was related to COVID-19 outcomes.
Their findings suggest that leukocyte count is an independent predictor of the severity of COVID-19 symptoms in postmenopausal women. This supports the notion that low-grade inflammation is not just a result of severe symptoms of COVID-19 but also may be a predisposing condition for a more serious infection.
This is a promising discovery; more research will be needed. Since leukocyte count is already a routine, inexpensive test, it could become a useful tool for identifying those at higher risk and developing better strategies for early intervention.