Impact of COVID-19 on employment: sociodemographic, medical, psychiatric and neuropsychological correlates.
Madison Thompson, Stephen J Ferrando, Rhea Dornbush and 4 others
PMID 37496702WHAT IT FOUND
People with long COVID who took extra time off work had more severe symptoms, fatigue, mood problems and lower cognitive test scores.
Those who felt work performance suffered reported fatigue and executive difficulty despite similar cognitive test scores.
Key findings
01Participants who took time off beyond quarantine were older and had more severe acute and persistent symptoms, more fatigue, and lower cognitive test scores than those who did not.
02Higher peak acute symptom severity and lower MoCA score were the strongest independent predictors of taking time off.
03Among those classified as having suffered performance, people reported subjective executive difficulty, but objective cognitive test scores did not differ from those who did not report impaired performance.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample was small, with 59 participants, so associations may be unstable. The participants were mostly White, female, and in professional occupations, so the results may not apply to other groups. Recruitment relied on social media, flyers, email chains, word of mouth, and clinic referrals, so people who sought care or responded to recruitment may differ from others with long COVID. Employment history and time away from work were reported retrospectively, and most assessments were done after participants had already taken time off. The study cannot show that taking time off caused impairment, or that impairment caused time off. The study did not measure exertional intolerance or autonomic dysfunction, which the authors discuss as possible explanations for fatigue and cognitive complaints. The sample included people at higher employment levels and under-represents people at lower employment levels.
Declared interests
Funding for the present study is from the Edith Har Esh, M.D. The supplied text does not include a further conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that self-reported work performance problems are caused by objective cognitive decline. In this study, participants who felt their performance suffered reported subjective executive difficulty but did not differ significantly on RBANS or MoCA scores from participants who did not feel impaired.