{
  "abstract": "Importance The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected schools. However, there are insufficient data on the chronic physical and mental health consequences of the pandemic in school workers.Objectives To determine the prevalence and the functional and mental health impact of pandemic-related chronic health symptoms among school workers towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.Design Cross-sectional analysis of health questionnaires and serology testing data (nucleocapsid, N antibodies) collected between January and April 2023, within a cohort of school workers.Setting Three large school districts (Vancouver, Richmond, Delta) in the Vancouver metropolitan area, Canada (representing 186 elementary and secondary schools in total).Participants Active school staff employed in these three school districts.Exposure COVID-19 infection history by self-reported viral and/or nucleocapsid antibody testing.Main outcomes Self-reported, new-onset pandemic-related chronic health symptoms that started within the past year, lasting at least 3 months, after a positive viral test among those with a known infection.Results Of 1128 school staff enrolled from 185/186 (99.5%) schools, 1086 (96.3%) and 998 (88.5%) staff completed health questionnaires and serology testing, respectively. The N-seroprevalence adjusted for clustering by school and test sensitivity and specificity was 84.7% (95% Credible Interval (95% CrI): 79.2% to 91.8%) compared with 85.4% (95% CrI: 81.6% to 90.3%) in a community-matched sample of blood donors. Overall, 31.1% (95% CI: 28.4% to 34.0%) staff reported new-onset chronic symptoms. These symptoms were more frequently reported in staff with viral test-confirmed infections (38.0% (95% CI: 34.3% to 41.9%)) compared with those with positive serology who were unaware that they had COVID-19 (14.3% (95% CI: 7.6% to 23.6%); p<0.001) or those with a negative serology (18.1% (95% CI: 12.7% to 24.6%); p<0.001). New-onset chronic symptoms were also more common in women (OR=1.6 (95% CI: 1.1 to 2.4)) and staff with a pre-existing health condition (OR=1.9 (95% CI: 1.4 to 2.5)). After controlling for age, sex and comorbidities, symptoms were associated with more days absent from work during the acute SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR=1.1 (95% CI: 1.0 to 1.2)), poorer mental health (OR=2.5 (95% CI: 1.9 to 3.4)), anxiety (OR=2.1 (95% CI: 1.5 to 3.0)) and depressive symptoms (OR=2.8 (95% CI: 2.0 to 4.0)).Conclusions The pandemic had major health impacts on school workers. To our knowledge, this study is among the first to concurrently quantify a broad range of chronic physical and mental health impacts, highlighting the need for further research and targeted health programmes to address this significant burden.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Pediatrics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada",
        "British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Allison W Watts"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Pediatrics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada",
        "British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Mark Pitblado"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Pediatrics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada",
        "British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Sirui Li"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Michael A Irvine"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Pediatrics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada",
        "British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Liam Golding"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Mathematics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Coombs"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Vancouver School Board, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Collette O’Reilly"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada",
        "University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Sheila F O’Brien"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada",
        "Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "David M Goldfarb"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada",
        "School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Louise C Mâsse"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Pediatrics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada",
        "British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Pascal Lavoie"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Chronic health consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on school workers: a cross-sectional post-pandemic analysis",
  "uid": "806fc394-1802-5851-a073-f2c11038c396"
}