Long COVID Syndrome Among Healthcare Workers in Italy: Online Survey

Background: Post-COVID-19 syndrome, characterised by persistent symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection, is a significant health challenge, for health workers (HWs) particularly. This observational study investigates the prevalence and risk factors associated with post-COVID-19 symptoms in HWs, including gender, vaccination status, severity of infection and therapies aswell. Methods: A questionnaire was properly developed using the REDCap platform and distributed online to approximately 1,100 HWs who had contracted COVID-19. The data on demographic and clinical variables (as well as the per-sistent symptoms after COVID-19)was collected too . Data analysis was per-formed using PSPP software, focusing on descriptive statistics, correlation anal-ysis and odds ratio (OR). Results: The most commonly reported symptoms were fatigue, dyspnoea, joint pain and cognitive impairment for the first pandemic wave generally. Further, women were associated with a higher risk of persistent fatigue and tachycardia. The second pandemic wave, characterised by the alpha variant, was associated to higher risk of neurological symptoms such as memory problems and slowed thinking. Influenza vaccination and anti-inflammatory drugs were associated with the occurrence of new post-infection symptoms (fa-tigue and joint pain). Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of managing post-COVID-19 symptoms by identifying specific risk factors in order to develop targeted preventive and therapeutic strategies (e.g. vaccination in specific groups).