Degree of self-perceived disability and impact on their quality of life in primary care healthcare workers with long COVID-19: EPICOVID-AP21 study

Jesús González-Lama, Jaime Monserrat Villatoro, Antonio Ranchal-Sánchez, Ana Belén Carmona-Casado, Luis Ángel Pérula-Detorres, Rafael Ángel Castro-Jiménez, Celia Jiménez-García, Miguel Ramírez-Baena, Esperanza Romero-Rodríguez

Keywords: healthcare workers; long COVID; primary care; quality of life; sick leave.

Background:

Primary care healthcare workers (PCW) have been one of the groups most affected by long COVID. Self-perceived disability is critical in assessing the burden of disease in terms of impact on quality of life (QoL) and occupational activity.

Research questions:

How do PCW perceive the impact on their health status and QoL resulting from long COVID?

Method:

An observational, descriptive, multicenter study was conducted using an ad hoc online questionnaire (cross-sectional survey with self-report questionnaire). Data were collected on quality of life, perceived health status, disabling symptoms, and sick leave of healthcare workers with persistent symptoms at least 8 weeks after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. A 10-point Likert scale (0-10) was used to assess self-perceived disability and quality of life impairment (0 no impact; 10 maximum impact). A descriptive analysis of the study variables was performed. Confidence intervals (CI) of 95% were calculated.

Results:

A total of 573 women (median age 50; IQR 42, 54) and 116 men (median age 46; IQR 40, 51) responded. Participants reported a mean perceived disability value of 7.0 (IQR 5, 8) and QoL of 8 (IQR 7, 9), with no significant differences between men and women. The most frequent disabling symptoms were fatigue (86.2%, CI 83.4 to 88.6%), lack of concentration/attention deficit (69.1%, CI 65.6 to 72.4%), mental fog (63.1%, CI 59.5 to 66.7%), muscle pain (61.8%, CI 58.2 to 65.4%), and mental confusion (60.5%, CI 56.8 to 64.1%). Of the 689 participants, 67.8% (CI 64.2 to 71.2%) reported being or having been on sick leave due to persistent symptoms.

Conclusions:

The persistence of symptoms after COVID-19 appears to have a substantial impact on the health-related quality of life of PCWs, with a substantial effect on their work productivity.

Points for discussion:

Should there be a specific circuit for treating healthcare workers with long COVID?

Are there local or national plans in your area to address the work overload that can be caused by the sick leave rate of these professionals?

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