Parenting and Gender as Impact Factors for Social Participation, Quality of Life, and Mental Health in Long COVID.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the impact of gender and parental tasks on social participation, health-related quality of life (hrQoL), and mental health in persons with long COVID. METHODS: A mixed-methods approach was followed including a cross-sectional web-based survey and semi-structured interviews. Multivariable linear regressions were used to quantify the effect of gender and parenting tasks on social participation, hrQoL, and mental health. Qualitative data from interviews with participants experiencing long COVID symptoms was analyzed using content analysis. RESULTS: Data from 920 participants in the quantitative study and 25 participants in the qualitative study was analyzed. Parenting tasks were associated with increased impairments in family and domestic responsibilities in persons with long COVID compared to lower impairments in persons without long COVID (P = .02). The qualitative data indicate that coping with long COVID and pursuing parenting tasks limit participants' ability to perform leisure activities and attend social gatherings. In long COVID, men had higher anxiety symptoms than women, and in those without long COVID, the opposite was observed (P < .001). In the qualitative study, participants expressed feelings of dejection and pessimism about their future private, occupational, and health situations. No differences between the genders could be observed. CONCLUSIONS: Long COVID is associated with impairments in family and domestic responsibilities in individuals who have parenting tasks. Among participants with long COVID, anxiety symptoms are higher in men than women.

Effects of Pre-Existing Mental Conditions on Fatigue and Psychological Symptoms Post-COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Patients who are post-COVID-19 will require more treatment soon. Therefore, it is important to understand the root cause of their psychological and somatic conditions. Previous studies showed contradictory results on the influence of pre-existing mental conditions. The present study examines the influence of these pre-existing conditions and their pre-treatment on the severity of post-COVID-19 symptoms. METHODS: This analysis employs questionnaire data from a large study sample in Germany. Overall, 801 participants were included. All participants rated their health status on a scale from 0 to 100. Fatigue, depression, and anxiety were measured using the FAS, PHQ-9, and GAD-7 scales. RESULTS: All pre-pandemic values showed no significant differences between the groups. The current health status was rated similarly by the recovered patients (µ = 80.5 ± 17.0) and the control group (µ = 81.2 ± 18.0) but significantly worse by acutely infected (µ = 59.0 ± 21.5) and post-COVID-19 patients (µ = 54.2 ± 21.1). Fatigue, depression, and anxiety were similar for recovered patients and the control group. By contrast, there were significant differences between the control and the post-COVID-19 groups concerning fatigue (45.9% vs. 93.1%), depression (19.3% vs. 53.8%), and anxiety (19.3% vs. 22.3%). CONCLUSION: Fatigue and psychological conditions of post-COVID-19 patients are not associated with pre-existing conditions.