New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, and University College London has found that 33.6% of surveyed health care workers in England report symptoms consistent with post-COVID syndrome (PCS), more commonly known as long COVID. Yet only 7.4% of respondents reported that they have received a formal diagnosis.

“Post COVID-19 syndrome among 5248 health care workers in England: longitudinal findings from NHS CHECK” was published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The research is part of the wider long-term NHS CHECK study that is tracking the mental and physical health of NHS staff throughout and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Other research by NHS CHECK has included health care workers’ experiences of support services, prevalence of mental health problems, moral injury, and suicidal thoughts.

The study used the NICE definition of long COVID, which includes symptoms like fatigue, cognitive difficulties, and anxiety for 12 weeks or more after they’ve had COVID.

After four and a half years since it was first described, there is still a lot to learn about long COVID. This study has sought to explore how common long COVID is among health care workers and if certain people are more likely to develop it than others.

“PCS can have a dramatic impact on a person’s day to day life. If we are to ensure that the health care workers, and the wider population, affected by it receive the best possible care and support, we need to address both the physiological and psychosocial mechanisms behind it,” says Dr. Sharon Stevelink, reader in epidemiology and one of the study’s authors from King’s IoPPN.

The research was led by Dr. Danielle Lamb, Senior Research Fellow at University College London’s Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, who said, “COVID-19 has not gone away. We know that more infections mean more people are at risk of developing long COVID.

“This research shows that we should be particularly concerned about the impacts of this on the health and social care sector, especially in older and female workers, and staff with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions.

“We now need to better understand the complex interplay between biomedical, psychological, and social factors that affect people’s experiences of long COVID, and how health care workers with this condition can best be supported.”

The study team collaborated with a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) panel of 16 health care workers with long COVID. The panel helped design the research by developing the study questions, shaping the analysis, and interpreting the results.

The study’s co-lead, Dr. Brendan Dempsey, research fellow at University College London, said, “Collaborating with the health care workers who formed our PPIE group has been really important in making sure that we are conducting research that is relevant to them. They also helped interpret our results, sharing their own experiences of living with long COVID and working in the NHS.”

To gather the survey findings, data was gathered from over 5,000 health care workers across three surveys spanning 32 months. The research found that potential risk factors for long COVID included: being female, being between 51 and 60 years of age, directly working with COVID-19 patients, having pre-existing respiratory conditions, and having existing mental health issues.

The lack of formal diagnosis, despite the widespread prevalence of symptoms, raises concerns that health care professionals with long COVID symptoms are not seeking care or are not being diagnosed. The research team calls for urgent improvements in diagnostic practices and access to support for those living with long COVID in the health care sector.