People who contract COVID-19 face an increased risk of developing inflammatory airway diseases such as asthma, chronic sinusitis and hay fever, according to a new international study led by Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

The findings, published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology , suggest the coronavirus can trigger type-2 inflammation in the airways even after recovery.

How researchers studied the risks

By the numbers:

The research team analyzed data from the U.S.-based TriNetX electronic health database. They compared nearly 974,000 people who had COVID-19 with 691,000 vaccinated individuals and more than 4.3 million uninfected and unvaccinated controls.

Compared to healthy controls, people who had COVID-19 had:

A 66% higher risk of developing asthma

A 74% highe

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