https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10198-023-01653-z
"
Background
Around 2 million people in the UK suffer from Long COVID (LC). Of concern is
the disease impact on productivity and informal care burden. This study aimed
to quantify and value productivity losses and informal care receipt in a sample
of LC patients in the UK.
Methods
The target population comprised LC patients referred to LC specialist clinics.
The questionnaires included a health economics questionnaire (HEQ) measuring
productivity impacts, informal care receipt and service utilisation, EQ-5D-5L,
C19-YRS LC condition-specific measure, and sociodemographic and COVID-19
history variables. Outcomes were changes from the incident infection resulting
in LC to the month preceding the survey in paid work status/h, work income,
work performance and informal care receipt. The human capital approach valued
productivity losses; the proxy goods method valued caregiving hours. The values
were extrapolated nationally using published prevalence data. Multilevel
regressions, nested by region, estimated associations between the outcomes and
patient characteristics.
Results
366 patients responded to HEQ (mean LC duration 449.9 days). 51.7% reduced paid
work hours relative to the pre-infection period. Mean monthly work income
declined by 24.5%. The average aggregate value of productivity loss since
incident infection was £10,929 (95% bootstrap confidence interval
£8,844-£13,014) and £5.7 billion (£3.8-£7.6 billion) extrapolated nationally.
The corresponding values for informal caregiving were £8,726 (£6,247-£11,204)
and £4.8 billion (£2.6-£7.0 billion). Multivariate analyses found significant
associations between each outcome and health utility and C19-YRS subscale
scores.
Conclusion
LC significantly impacts productivity losses and provision of informal care,
exacerbated by high national prevalence of LC."
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: December 28, 2023
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-95419817
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
