Changes in sick notes associated with COVID-19 from 2020 to 2022: a cohort study in 24 million primary care patients in OpenSAFELY-TPP.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Long-term sickness absence from employment has negative consequences for the economy and can lead to widened health inequalities. Sick notes (also called 'fit notes') are issued by general practitioners when a person cannot work for health reasons for more than 7 days. We quantified the sick note rate in people with evidence of COVID-19 in 2020, 2021 and 2022, as an indication of the burden for people recovering from COVID-19.

Design

Cohort study.

Setting

With National Health Service (NHS) England approval, we used routine clinical data (primary care, hospital and COVID-19 testing records) within the OpenSAFELY-TPP database.

Participants

People 18-64 years with a recorded positive test or diagnosis of COVID-19 in 2020 (n=365 421), 2021 (n=1 206 555)

SUBMITTER: Schaffer AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11227761 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature