Up to 10% of healthcare workers could be affected by long-term COVID-19, reveal preliminary results from a large epidemiological survey by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ).
“Of these, a third have severe symptoms and more than half have had symptoms for more than a year,” declared Thursday the epidemiologist at the INSPQ, the DD Sara Carazo, during the first major Canadian conference dedicated to long COVID.
This survey was carried out following a mandate from the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS). A total of 23,000 healthcare workers participated in the survey electronically or by telephone from May to July.
Of those who completed the online survey, 10% reported persistent symptoms for more than three months, referred to as long COVID. As for those who responded by telephone, 6% reported suffering from this post-COVID syndrome.
Taking into account the 400,000 healthcare workers in Quebec, we can estimate that the number of people affected by long COVID is between 24,000 and 40,000.
Severe symptoms
Of all healthcare workers with long COVID, 29% experience severe symptoms on a daily basis, 43% have symptoms of moderate severity, while 28% experience mild symptoms, details the DD Carazo.
Furthermore, 71% have found that long COVID-19 has an impact on their ability to work, and 16% regularly experience difficulty working.
Some of the most common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, trouble concentrating, memory loss, confusion or brain fog, muscle or joint pain, anxiety, headaches, headaches, insomnia and discomfort after exercise.
The INSPQ team also observed that the more severe the symptoms were when infected with the virus, the higher the risks of developing COVID-19 in the long term. Reinfections are also associated with an increased risk of long-term COVID-19.
“The biggest concern remains whether people remain mortgaged and that’s what we haven’t had time to look at carefully yet,” says Dr.r Gaston De Serres, retired epidemiologist at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) and study collaborator. The full report is expected to be released in the coming months.
The Omicron wave
The odds of developing long COVID were higher among individuals who contracted COVID-19 early in the pandemic, before the emergence of variants and the availability of vaccines. Indeed, 26% of healthcare workers infected at the start of the pandemic are affected by long COVID, noted the DD Carazo.
With the appearance of new variants, this risk decreases to around 12%. However, due to the large number of people infected with these new variants, the number of healthcare workers with long COVID remains high. “Most healthcare workers living with long COVID syndrome have been infected since the arrival of Omicron,” says Dr.D Carazo.
Nearly half (42%) of healthcare workers with long-term COVID-19 had to see a family doctor, while 18% saw a specialist and 13% went to the emergency room. Between 5 and 7% required rehabilitation services and assistance to return to work and resume daily activities.