Between 6% and 10% of Quebec healthcare workers have suffered from the long form of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, reveal preliminary data revealed Thursday during the first Canadian Symposium on Long COVID, in Montreal.
A third of them experienced symptoms considered “severe”, and more than half of them have been experiencing symptoms for more than a year.
“Overall, post-COVID syndrome has a significant effect on health status and ability to work, and there is a significant and unmet demand for rehabilitation services,” summarized the study author. , Dr. Sara Carazo, who is an epidemiologist at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec.
There are some 400,000 health care workers in Quebec. Around 23,500 of them responded to an online survey between May and July 2023, and around 4,000 others were reached by telephone during the same period. A thousand participants responded both online and by telephone.
Three-quarters of survey participants revealed that they had suffered one or more episodes of COVID-19 since the start of the health crisis. Ten percent of these reported symptoms lasting more than 12 weeks and still being present.
More than half of healthcare workers affected by long-form COVID-19 had experienced symptoms for more than a year at the time of the survey, and 19% of them for more than two years. A third of workers lived with severe symptoms and 14% of them had to deal with at least three severe symptoms.
Researchers found an association between the severity of symptoms experienced during the acute phase of infection and the severity of long-term COVID symptoms.
Fatigue, shortness of breath, concentration problems, memory loss and confusion (or mental fog) are the symptoms most often mentioned, which corresponds to the conclusions of multiple other surveys carried out on the long form of the COVID.
Seventy-one percent of healthcare workers affected by long-term COVID said their health condition now interferes with their ability to work, and 16% indicated they are now often unable to work.
A fifth of them revealed having missed at least four weeks of work over the past year, twice as many as found among workers without the long form of COVID-19. A similar proportion believe they have “poor or very poor” ability to meet the physical or intellectual demands of their job.
The majority of long-term COVID cases among healthcare workers were found among employees who had been infected with the virus since the emergence of the Omicron variant, who had been vaccinated and whose health status had not changed. no need for hospitalization.
Just over half of health care workers with long-term COVID sought health care related to their illness. A third of them requested services to improve memory and concentration, but only 2% were able to access them.
A fifth of these workers requested rehabilitation services and psychological support services, but their requests were granted in only 6% and 12% of cases, respectively.
“There remains unmet demand,” emphasized Dr. Carazo.