Pre-pandemic care-seeking patterns and subsequent diagnoses of post-COVID condition, [PVFS], and exhaustion disorder:... 2026 af Geijerstam et al

Andy

Andy

Senior Member (Voting rights)
Full title: Pre-pandemic care-seeking patterns and subsequent diagnoses of post-COVID condition, post viral fatigue syndrome, and exhaustion disorder: a registry-based cohort study of 208,050 Swedish women

Abstract​

Background​

Women are disproportionately diagnosed with symptom-based conditions, notably post-COVID condition (PCC). In Sweden, as of February 2022, 2.3% of PCR-verified female COVID-19 cases versus 1.6% of male cases had a PCC diagnosis. Post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) and exhaustion disorder (ED), a common and relevant diagnosis in Sweden, share substantial symptom overlap with PCC.

Aims​

To quantify the association between pre-pandemic, symptom-based primary-care visits and subsequent PCC, PVFS, and ED among adult women, adjusting for risk factors for severe COVID-19.

Methods​

We conducted a registry-based prospective cohort study of 208,050 women from the Swedish Medical Birth Register, linked to primary-care data and national sociodemographic registers. The exposure was the frequency of visits for predefined symptom-based conditions during 2015–2019. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for diagnoses in 2020–2024 were estimated using logistic regression controlling for BMI, education, age, and region of birth.

Results​

Across 2,431,182 primary-care physician visits, 19% were symptom-based. Women with >8 such visits had higher odds of all three outcomes: PCC (OR 5.45, 95% CI 4.43–6.71), PVFS (OR 7.71, 95% CI 5.97–9.96), and ED (OR 5.32, 95% CI 4.84–5.85). Pre-pandemic BMI and education were not associated with PCC or PVFS but showed some association with ED. Still, 17% of women with PCC had no recorded symptom-based visits before the pandemic.

Conclusions​

Pre-pandemic symptom-based primary-care visits were strongly associated with higher risk of PCC, PVFS, and ED in a dose-dependent way, but modest discrimination underscores heterogeneous individual risk. Patterns suggest other influences alongside biological susceptibility.

Open access
 
Aside from check-ups and the like, I'm pretty sure close to 100% of GP visits are about 'symptom-based' issues. They don't bother defining what they mean by symptom-based, or I could not find it. Of course we know what they mean, but hot damn the euphemism shuffling is absurd.

The bias here is frankly ridiculous:
Thus, symptom-based visits may reflect a broader illness behaviour pattern related to chronic stress, bodily vigilance, and vulnerability to persistent post-trigger symptoms.

The combined negative/positive-control analyses showed weak and flat associations for hypothyroidism, a laboratory-confirmed condition, but increasingly strong associations for migraine and IBS, which rely more on symptom-based clinical interpretation. This gradient supports a biopsychosocial understanding, where post-trigger symptoms are influenced not only by the initiating event but also by pre-existing symptom patterns and the diagnostic context as well as indicating that diagnostic pathways involving symptom perception and clinical interpretation may play a greater role where reporting sensitivity is higher.
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Taken together, the findings support a biopsychosocial interpretation: a trigger (infection or prolonged stress) may initiate symptoms, but illness behavior, stress exposure, symptom interpretation, and diagnostic practices shape which individuals develop persistent symptom syndromes and receive these diagnoses.
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This cult pseudoscience is out of control and is a far greater threat to public health than the corruption happening under RFK Jr. This is literally about the consequences of a major pandemic infecting the whole human population, several times for most, and they're still acting as if the only thing that happened was pandemic behavior, not the actual infectious pathogen itself. What an absurd time in human history.
 
Andy said:
Full title: Pre-pandemic care-seeking patterns and subsequent diagnoses of post-COVID condition, post viral fatigue syndrome, and exhaustion disorder: a registry-based cohort study of 208,050 Swedish women

Abstract​

Background​

Women are disproportionately diagnosed with symptom-based conditions, notably post-COVID condition (PCC). In Sweden, as of February 2022, 2.3% of PCR-verified female COVID-19 cases versus 1.6% of male cases had a PCC diagnosis. Post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS) and exhaustion disorder (ED), a common and relevant diagnosis in Sweden, share substantial symptom overlap with PCC.

Aims​

To quantify the association between pre-pandemic, symptom-based primary-care visits and subsequent PCC, PVFS, and ED among adult women, adjusting for risk factors for severe COVID-19.

Methods​

We conducted a registry-based prospective cohort study of 208,050 women from the Swedish Medical Birth Register, linked to primary-care data and national sociodemographic registers. The exposure was the frequency of visits for predefined symptom-based conditions during 2015–2019. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for diagnoses in 2020–2024 were estimated using logistic regression controlling for BMI, education, age, and region of birth.

Results​

Across 2,431,182 primary-care physician visits, 19% were symptom-based. Women with >8 such visits had higher odds of all three outcomes: PCC (OR 5.45, 95% CI 4.43–6.71), PVFS (OR 7.71, 95% CI 5.97–9.96), and ED (OR 5.32, 95% CI 4.84–5.85). Pre-pandemic BMI and education were not associated with PCC or PVFS but showed some association with ED. Still, 17% of women with PCC had no recorded symptom-based visits before the pandemic.

Conclusions​

Pre-pandemic symptom-based primary-care visits were strongly associated with higher risk of PCC, PVFS, and ED in a dose-dependent way, but modest discrimination underscores heterogeneous individual risk. Patterns suggest other influences alongside biological susceptibility.

Open access
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In a dose- dependent way?

Do they really insinuate a dose = one visit to GP for ‘symptoms’ (although what else do 80% of people go to GP with if they have conditions which have no symptoms ? I’m getting the impression it isn’t just symptoms they mean to insinuate there)

And mean either the seeing the GP makes them hungry to return? Ie attention!

Or more sensibly just see it as the poor people tend to get Quincy tonsilitis or something they can use against them rather than the manly tonsilitis they get themselves and use a different category for or you know gout. ?

Although I’m smelling they seem to be happy to bias both and interpret the latter as the former in their own minds by virtue of the ‘symptoms’ category they are using that only covers 20% of people visiting the GP so us obviously used to secretly select not just on ‘do you have a condition that might have symptoms’

I mean thus us really non-science and outside the realms of sensible observation-based basic skills when you start deliberately using secret categories so only the like-minded know who you are really all selecting into your symptoms category a ‘you know what I mean’ ?
 
www.eurekalert.org

Health seeking before pandemic linked to post-COVID

Women who frequently sought healthcare for recurring symptoms before the pandemic were more likely to later be diagnosed with post-COVID, according to a thesis at the University of Gothenburg.
www.eurekalert.org

NEWS RELEASE 18-MAR-2026

Health seeking before pandemic linked to post-COVID​

Peer-Reviewed Publication
UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG


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Agnes af Geijerstam
IMAGE:

AGNES AF GEIJERSTAM, MD/PHD, SAHLGRENSKA ACADEMY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG.

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CREDIT: PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

Women who frequently sought healthcare for recurring symptoms before the pandemic were more likely to later be diagnosed with post-COVID, according to a thesis at the University of Gothenburg.

One of the sub-studies in the thesis includes just over 200,000 Swedish women. The researchers analyzed the women's visits to primary care in the years before the pandemic and compared them with those who later received diagnoses such as post-COVID, long-term fatigue after viral infection or fatigue syndrome.

The analyzed healthcare visits before the pandemic concerned symptoms such as fatigue, pain, dizziness or other physical complaints where a clear diagnosis could not always be established at the visit.

Five times as likely

The results show that the more such care visits the women had before the pandemic, the greater the likelihood of later receiving one of the diagnoses. Women with more than eight such care visits before the pandemic were more than five times as likely to later receive a diagnosis of post-covid or fatigue syndrome compared to women without such visits.

– Post-COVID is often described as a direct consequence of the infection. Our results show that there may also be a longer background of illness and care seeking that plays a role in who later receives the diagnosis, says Agnes af Geijerstam, physician and PhD in community medicine and public health, University of Gothenburg.

At the same time, the study shows that approximately one fifth of the women who were diagnosed with post-COVID had not had any such care visits before the pandemic. This suggests that several different factors may contribute to the development and diagnosis of the disease.

Broad picture of COVID

The study is based on Swedish national health registers and follows women's healthcare contacts over time. Agnes af Geijerstam's thesis, which includes the study, provides a broader picture of different factors during different stages of life that can affect the risk of infection, severe illness and diagnosis during the Covid-19 pandemic.
– The pandemic did not affect everyone equally. Our studies show that both biological, psychological and social factors during life are linked to how people were affected by COVID-19, says Agnes af Geijerstam.

JOURNAL​

Journal of Primary Health Care

DOI​

10.1080/02813432.2025.2611886

METHOD OF RESEARCH​

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH​

People

ARTICLE TITLE​

Pre-pandemic care-seeking patterns and subsequent diagnoses of post-COVID condition, post-viral fatigue syndrome, and exhaustion disorder: a registry-based cohort study of 208 050 Swedish women

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE​

6-Jan-2026
 
The paper said:
Our studies show that both biological, psychological and social factors during life are linked to how people were affected by COVID-19, says Agnes af Geijerstam.
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Completely bizarre to misrepresent prior health issues as "health seeking" involving "both (sic) biological, psychological and social factors". Obviously it's totally bizarre for people with health problem to seek health care, and it cannot possibly be prior health problems. Especially for "symptoms". Who has even heard of people "seeking health care" for "symptoms"? Totally bizarre. No, it must be the "mensies", I guess, because why not at this point?
At the same time, the study shows that approximately one fifth of the women who were diagnosed with post-COVID had not had any such care visits before the pandemic. This suggests that several different factors may contribute to the development and diagnosis of the disease.
Click to expand...
Diagnosis? Yes, clearly a combination of biological, social and political factors. Development? No.

Being sane in an insane world is really awful.
 
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