Long COVID may be behind the recent surge in U.S. women with a disability, who surpassed their male counterparts in the workforce during the pandemic, reversing historic trends.

Women are disproportionately affected by lingering effects from a COVID-19 infection, a health condition that is still little understood and manifests in persistent symptoms that can be debilitating.

The emergence of long COVID coincides with an increase in women with disabilities, who have outnumbered their male peers in monthly government labor figures on a regular basis since last June.