Begona Fernandez |
Granada (EFE).- Almost two million Spaniards suffer from persistent covid and, of them, 600,000 have suffered from it for more than three years. The impact of the disease in the workplace is brutal: 27% are on sick leave, 19% work with “many limitations” and 10% have lost their jobs.
And it is that only 15.6% of those affected by persistent covid work under normal conditions “which means that the functional alteration is very important and the reduction in quality of life, too”, he explains in an interview with Efe the coordinator of the persistent covid group and vice president of the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG), Pilar Rodríguez Ledo.
These results come from a survey carried out by the SEMG between October 2022 and January 2023 on a sample of 1,122 patients with several months of symptoms, of which 942 were validated with persistent covid.
78% of the patients who answered the survey were women, the mean age was 47 years, and the time frame of involvement ranged from three years to 200 days.
Although it is observed that persistent covid evolves at a slower rate than at the beginning, 10% of those infected develop the disease.
Rodríguez Ledo, who this afternoon will be elected the new president of the SEMG, recalls that the symptoms of persistent covid affect any part of the body. There are majority symptoms such as asthenia or intense fatigue like never before in the patient, and those that afflict the neurocognitive area: concentration deficit, mental fog, headache, musculoskeletal pain, cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive system symptoms.
12% cannot perform their personal hygiene
According to the survey, the degree of disability increases up to six points compared to their situation before developing the disease. On a scale from 1 to 10 where ten is maximum disability, the average is 6.1 starting from 0.7 before infection. The survey also reveals that 2.9% have achieved permanent disability.
12% cannot carry out their personal hygiene or do it with a lot of effort and 50% cannot take care of housework or require a tremendous effort to do so.
Rodríguez Ledo also comments that the survey reveals that it is a population that before suffering from persistent covid did not suffer from pathologies or if they did, it was in the same proportion as the rest of the citizens.
Asked about the state of health, the results show a loss of four points, from 8.5 out of 10 before the persistent covid to 3.9 today. And more than half, 56%, have not been able to resume the leisure they enjoyed.
Only one in three feels supported in the workplace
The survey also delves into support networks. 71.6% acknowledge having the support of family and 57.8% claim to have the support of friends, but when it comes to the workplace, only 33.4% believe that they have the support of their work.
Rodríguez Ledo confirms that it is the workplace that generates the most problems, “and where the patients have to fight the most.”
The persistent covid also damaged personal relationships and the average scores the deterioration suffered at 8 when 10 is the worst possible grade.
Another aspect revealed by the survey is that patients rate the family doctor as the professional who offers them the most support and the best monitoring of their disease, followed by the internist and the psychologist.
And it is that the persistent covid units that were created to attend to severe acute sequelae have closed, once the pandemic has subsided.
With these results, Rodríguez Ledo calls for reflection so that these people can continue with their lives. For persistent covid to become a chronic disease, he says, “would be the lesser evil, if we are able to offer treatment to control the symptoms.”