By Hugo Francisco de SouzaAug 21 2023Reviewed by Sophia Coveney In a preprint recently uploaded to the medRxiv* server, researchers conducted an observational, longitudinal study to investigate the association between Long Covid and subsequent labor market outcomes in working-age adults from the United Kingdom.
It is characterized by symptoms including prolonged fatigue, breathlessness, joint and muscle aches, cognitive impairment, and sleep disorders. Furthermore, these studies included small sample populations with short follow-up periods, making discussions into the macroeconomic and livelihood impacts of Long Covid data deficient.
Related StoriesLong Covid exposure was measured both clinically, via PCR test assessments taken during routine monthly follow-up, and via a self-reported questionnaire that asked the question, “Would you describe yourself as having ‘Long Covid,’ that is, you are still experiencing symptoms more than 4 weeks after you first had COVID-19 that are not explained by something else?”. The study defined Long Covid as persisting symptoms 12 or more weeks after initial infection.
Study findings The final dataset comprised 206,299 individuals between the ages of 16 and 64. An average of 12.3 monthly follow-ups per individual revealed 147,895 participants with long-term labor market inactivity, 97,751 SARS-CoV-2 reinfections, and 8,440 reported Long Covid patients.