Objectives: This study identifies work trajectories of patients with persistent complaints after a COVID-19 infection receiving allied healthcare and predictors of return work.
Methods: A prospective cohort of 1333 Dutch working-age patients with persistent complaints after a COVID-19 infection receiving allied healthcare between 2021 and 2022 were used. Sequence analysis was conducted to identify work trajectories over time and logistic regression to investigate predictors of return to work.
Results: Five hundred fifty-two unique work trajectories were identified. The proportion of return to work was 31.4% ( n = 419). High health-related quality of life was associated with higher odds of return to work (OR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.00 to 1.04).
Conclusions: Only one-third of patients returned to work 9 months after receiving allied healthcare. Return to work was best predicted by health-related quality of life although the model's accuracy was poor.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04735744.
Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.