One of the major consequences of covid infection is Long covid. Long covid has been explained by the Department of Health and Human services ( HHS) in collaboration with CDC as signs and symptoms that continue from the initial covid 19 infection or develop after the initial infection and are present beyond 4 weeks from the initial phase of infection. It has been estimated that about 20 percent of covid 19 infected people will suffer from long covid with probability more in those who suffered from severe symptoms and are not vaccinated.
A recent study identified the number of sick leaves taken by the population due to long covid symptoms as a potential indicator of the negative effects long covid brought on the normal lives of the people.
Research of Long covid and Sick Leave
This recent study was posted in medRxiv, the preprint server for Health Sciences, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution. It publishes preliminary scientific reports not reviewed by peers, thus the research cannot be considered conclusive till further studies are done.
The research was conducted by the researchers in Denmark and they examined the association of covid 19 infection with sick leave taken post acute infection due to covid 19 in the adult Danish population.
The data was taken from AFTER-COVID survey which was initiated in August 2021 to assess the public health focusing more on long covid. The Danish population participated through a national digital mail system based on RT-PCR test results present in the Danish Microbiology Lab Database.
The study took those people into account who took the survey nine months after their RT-PCR test results came out . Their other information like age, sex, covid 19 test results, reinfection, comorbidities, vaccination were all integrated with the survey data. The people who tested negative in their RT-PCR test were taken as control in the study.
A questionnaire was made to get information about the participants baseline data and the number of sick leaves they took between their RT-PCR result and the date of the survey.
The data of diagnosis of covid 19 from both outpatient and inpatient departments was obtained from Danish National Patient Register (DNPR).
The patients were told to indicate in the questionnaire whether they took sick leave after the covid infection, number of sick leave days, whether it was full day or half day. After collecting the data the prevalence of full or half day sick leave due to long covid was compared with positive tested subjects and negative tested subjects using a risk difference.
Findings of the Research
Total 106,917 people completed the survey and out of them 88,818 were selected for the study. Only 37,482 were tested positive in their RT-PCR test. Most of the people were aged 45 years on average with most participants being females, which is about 64.3 percent.
People tested positive for covid had a higher prevalence of sick leaves which is 4.5 percent as compared to the people who tested negative for the test who had 1,4 percent only.
Of these 21 percent who took long sick leaves and were tested positive for covid were diagnosed with long covid.
It was observed that people who were infected had a higher chance of taking full time sick leaves as compared to the control group. Taking full time sick leaves was seen more in females as compared to males and also for the people ages 50 and above.
The highest prevalence of sick leaves was seen in individuals suffering from fibromyalgia, common obstructive pulmonary disease, any other lung disease and diabetes.
It was concluded that the covid 19 infected people had an increased risk of taking long sick leaves and more than one-fifth individuals were suffering from long covid. According to the researchers, long covid was not the sole cause of sick leaves post covid infection.
The study reached the final conclusion that among the covid 19 infected persons, 33 persons per 1000 took a long sick leave. Among them females, adults aged 50 plus, and those with preexisting lung disease, fibromyalgia or diabetes were affected most.
Long covid may not have been a major reason for sick leave but it did affect the normal day to day activities of the people even after recovering from covid 19 initial infection making it a danger for the society.
