Table 2.
Prevalence of Cognitive Dysfunctions by Clinical Status (Cases with ≥4-Week Post-COVID Conditions and Non-Coronavirus Disease 2019 Controls), Psychological Distress Level, Fatigue Level, and Demographic Characteristics and Adjusted Prevalence Ratios Among Quebec Healthcare Workers (N = 6962)
| Cognitive Dysfunction | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difficulty Concentratinga |
Difficulty Organizing Oneselfa |
Forgetfulnessa | Loss of Necessary Itemsa | |||||||||
| Evaluated Expositions | Prevalence, % | aPRb | (95% CI) | Prevalence, % | aPRb | (95% CI) | Prevalence, % | aPRb | (95% CI) | Prevalence, % | aPRb | (95% CI) |
| PCC | ||||||||||||
| Non–COVID-19 controls | 14.6 | ref | … | 9.3 | ref | … | 7.6 | ref | … | 4.7 | ref | … |
| ≥4-week PCC cases | 33.4 | 2.6 | (2.4–2.8) | 23.1 | 2.8 | (2.5–3.1) | 20.0 | 3.0 | (2.6–3.4) | 9.8 | 2.2 | (1.9–2.7) |
| Psychological distress | ||||||||||||
| No (K6 <7) | 8.1 | ref | … | 4.7 | ref | … | 4.1 | ref | … | 2.3 | ref | … |
| High (K6 = 7–12) | 24.1 | 2.4 | (2.1–2.8) | 15.9 | 2.7 | (2.3–3.3) | 13.7 | 2.7 | (2.2–3.4) | 7.3 | 2.4 | (1.8–3.1) |
| Very high (K6 ≥13) | 53.8 | 4.6 | (4.0–5.3) | 38.1 | 5.6 | (4.6–6.7) | 31.5 | 5.2 | (4.2–6.4) | 17.2 | 4.3 | (3.2–5.8) |
| Fatigue | ||||||||||||
| No or mild | 10.0 | ref | … | 6.7 | ref | … | 5.7 | ref | … | 2.6 | ref | … |
| Moderate | 21.1 | 1.8 | (1.6–2.1) | 13.2 | 1.7 | (1.4–2.0) | 10.8 | 1.7 | (1.4–2.0) | 6.0 | 2.0 | (1.5–2.7) |
| Severe | 47.0 | 2.8 | (2.4–3.2) | 33.8 | 2.9 | (2.5–3.5) | 29.9 | 3.1 | (2.6–3.8) | 16.7 | 3.8 | (2.8–5.1) |
| Sex | ||||||||||||
| Male | 15.8 | ref | … | 11.3 | ref | … | 9.7 | ref | … | 4.0 | ref | … |
| Female | 22.6 | 1.2 | (1.1–1.4) | 14.9 | 1.2 | (1.0–1.4) | 12.6 | 1.2 | (1.0–1.4) | 7.0 | 1.5 | (1.1–2.0) |
| Age, y | ||||||||||||
| 18–29 | 22.9 | ref | … | 15.1 | ref | … | 11.4 | ref | … | 8.0 | ref | … |
| 30–39 | 19.5 | 1.0 | (.9–1.1) | 13.5 | 1.1 | (.9–1.3) | 11.7 | 1.3 | (1.1–1.5) | 6.2 | 0.9 | (.7–1.2) |
| 40–49 | 24.6 | 1.1 | (1.0–1.3) | 15.7 | 1.1 | (.9–1.3) | 13.7 | 1.2 | (1.0–1.5) | 6.5 | 0.8 | (.7–1.1) |
| 50–59 | 22.2 | 1.0 | (.9–1.2) | 15.1 | 1.1 | (.9–1.3) | 12.9 | 1.2 | (1.0–1.5) | 6.6 | 0.9 | (.7–1.2) |
| 60–80 | 12.8 | 0.8 | (.4–1.0) | 7.7 | 0.7 | (.5–1.0) | 6.3 | 0.8 | (.5–1.1) | 4.2 | 0.7 | (.4–1.3) |
Abbreviations: aPR, adjusted prevalence ratio; CI, confidence interval; COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; K6, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale; PCC, post-COVID condition; ref, reference category.
For each manifestation, “yes” corresponds to a reported current frequency of often or very often.
Robust Poisson regression models adjusted for sex, age (5 categories: 18–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, ≥60 years), race/ethnicity (6 categories: White, Black, Hispanic, Arab, Asian, other), occupation (8 categories: physician, nurse, nurse assistant, patient healthcare assistant, housekeeping, administration/management, psychosocial worker, other), fatigue (3 categories: none or mild, moderate, severe), and psychological distress (3 categories: no, <7; high, 7–12; very high, ≥13 in the Kessler scale).