Work ability and work limitations in people recovering from COVID-19: one-year follow-up cohort results

Background: COVID-19 can have a large impact on people’s participation in work. The purpose of this article is to gain insight in characteristics of persons with COVID-19 at the time of infection, and their work ability and work limitations one year after inclusion in the allied health recovery care study (ParaCov study). Methods: A cross-sectional observational study approaching participants in the ParaCov cohort with paid work at cohort inclusion, who completed the 12-month assessment (n = 681). They received additional work-related questionnaires on work characteristics, Work Ability Score (WAS), and Work Limitations Questionnaire (WLQ). Descriptive statistics summarized participant and work characteristics, reporting categorical variables as numbers and percentages and continuous variables as medians with interquartile ranges (IQR) or means with standard deviations (SD). Results: One year after inclusion in the Paracov cohort, 385 out of 681 (57%) persons gave permission to participate; 273 (71%) responded to one or more of the additional questionnaires. Mean age was 49 years (SD 10), 64% was female, 79% was not admitted to hospital for COVID-19, 76% had experienced mild to moderate symptoms and 61% reported no comorbidities. Participants had a mean employment contract for 29 (SD 10) hours per week, and 35% worked full time. The mean WAS score was 6.4 (SD 2.3), with 34% of the persons reporting good or excellent work ability, 40% moderate and 26% poor work ability. The mean WLQ index was 12.1, corresponding with 11% productivity loss. On average, 26% of time persons were limited in the physical job demands, 48% of time in time demands, 42% of time in mental-interpersonal demands, and 45% of time in output demands. Conclusions: Twelve months after initiating allied healthcare after COVID-19, 66% of persons experienced moderate to poor work ability, substantial productivity losses, and work limitations, especially regarding mental-interpersonal demands, time- and output demands. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04735744) First posted 2021-02-03.