According to a new study, the UK economy could lose billions of pounds each year due to patients struggling to deal with symptoms and return back to work.
Researchers from University College London examined the impact on 4 087 patients who were referred and registered for the Living With Covid Recovery programme (LWCR). This study took place between August 2020 to August 2022.
Patients were asked to use a mobile application as part of their NHS treatment. They tracked their symptoms. The app asked patients to fill out questionnaires about the length of time that Covid had affected them. They also considered the impact on their daily activities, fatigue, brain fog and health-related quality-of-life, relationships, and ability to work.
The study, , published in BMJ Open and supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, found that on average all individuals who were referred to Covid long clinics in UK reported little improvement to their ability to carry out day-today activities, fatigue and quality of life, and their ability to work in the first six-month period after seeking treatment for their symptoms.
Nearly three quarters (72%) who initially reported a loss of work days and continued to engage in the mobile application, continue to report a loss of days at six months. Over a third of them (36%) were unable work at all.
Researchers found that long Covid’s economic impact is driven primarily by productivity losses. These averaged PS931 for each patient, per month during the six-month study period. The researchers calculated this using the national hourly average pay (PS13.57) and the average number of working hours per week (33.9).
Professor Manuel Gomes, senior author of the study, from UCL Epidemiology & Health Care said that lost working days could cost up to PS20bn per year (PS931 x 2 million people x 12 month).
The UK’s long Covid patients are more likely to have a higher level of symptomatology and/or impairment than the average patient. However, even if 10% were severely impaired, this would amount to PS2bn a year.
The study also showed that at least half (46,3%) of patients with long-term Covid still had significant functional impairment six months after treatment. This highlights the ongoing challenges for long-term Covid recovery.
Researchers at UCL have found, in a separate and more positive study, that the majority of young people with long Covid who had a positive PCR three months after their diagnosis recovered within 24 month.
