Do midwives know that they're now twice as likely to be off sick with a pregnancy related disorder than before the Covid pandemic started?
Do nurses?
And health visitors?
Similar trend across all staff groups, with an apparent accelerating increase more recently.
Across *all* doctors in hospitals and healthcare settings.
And, no, that's not because there are more people working for the NHS.
Those are the *rates* of sickness absence.
And, no, it's not because the workforce is aging.
Doctors in core training are young.
Foundation Year 2 Doctors are *young*.
And, no, it's not because more women are getting pregnant.
Unless you're also suggesting that people have more stomachs now.
Or more eyes.
Or more teeth.
Or more brains.
Seriously this stuff is huge.
Nervous system disorders across all staff groups.
Across all staff groups again.
These rises are just nuts.
It's exactly what we predicted would happen after repeat covid infections, and it's getting worse *now*.
The worst month for sickness absence rates for each of these has been in the last three months of data:
Anxiety/Stress/Depression (all of which made more likely by the physical damage caused by covid infection)
Muskuloskeletal problems
Headache/Migraine
Benign and malignant tumours and cancers
Blood disorders
Heart, cardiac, circulatory problems
Dental and oral problems
Eye problems
Endocrine and glandular problems
Gastrointestinal problems
Genitourinary and gynaecological disorders
Injuries and fractures
Nervous system disorders
Pregnancy related disorders
Skin disorders
All of which have been repeatedly proven to be worsened by repeat covid infections.
Most of the graphs show the conditions to be *getting worse still*, and some show signs that the *worsening is accelerating*.
I think one of the most important conclusions people are missing from the data in the recent big studies is that covid infections cause radically diverse long term effects in different age groups.
So much so that it could appear as if they've been infected with different viruses.
But it's not the virus that's different, it's the immune system, the metabolism, and the way the body repairs the damage done by the infection.
The word mucinous is going to become much more common.
Yes, bookmark this tweet, it looks bland, but it's important.
oh, okay. I won't leave you hanging.
I've written a lot recently about how we're missing the big picture of how covid infection is doing cumulative damage to interfaces in the body - linings, membranes, barriers, walls, filters.
I don't want to rewrite that all here, but I don't want to bust the flow of this thread, so at the end of it, I'll post the thread I wrote on linings.
I know, I know, you're going to laugh at me for saying that you're more likely to have problems with cramp after you've had a covid infection, but it's all very simple science.
Loads of people have been mentioning cramp recently, and like so many other conditions, yes, covid infection makes it more likely, and makes it worse.
It's just an extra factor on top of all the normal factors for cramp.
Muscles are fussy about blood flow.
They need a steady supply of oxygen to contract and, crucially, to relax.
Covid messes with the small blood vessels that supply it, so muscles end up slightly under-fuelled, and under-fuelled muscles cramp.
A couple of very important studies out just in the last 24 hours confirming what we've been saying for years and years now: Covid infections affect your immune system *badly*.
Here's a few things you may have missed in them.
This is almost entirely post vaccination data
This is not an unprotected population.
Baseline immune measurements come from a period when vaccination coverage was already high, and the immune damage appears *after mass infection*.
So two things there:
The effect didn't appear until after infection.