Prospective cohort study of workers diagnosed with COVID-19 and subsequent unemployment

  1. CORoNaWork project
  2. Tomohisa Nagata
  3. Masako Nagata
  4. Ayako Hino
  5. Seiichiro Tateishi
  6. Akira Ogami
  7. Mayumi Tsuji
  8. Shinya Matsuda
  9. Yoshihisa Fujino
  10. Koji Mori

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Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships of workers being diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and being identified as close contacts of infected persons with unemployment in Japan.

Methods

This was a prospective cohort study using questionnaires about COVID-19 administered to Japanese workers. A baseline survey conducted on December 22–25, 2020, was used to determine history of being diagnosed with COVID-19 or being identified as a close contact of an infected person. Unemployment since the baseline survey was ascertained with a follow-up survey on February 18 and 19, 2021. The odds ratios (ORs) of unemployment were estimated using a multilevel logistic model with adjusted covariates nested in prefecture of residence.

Results

Women (n = 8771) accounted for 44% of the total sample (n = 19 941), and the mean age was 48.0 years. In terms of unemployment because of negative reasons, the multivariate analysis showed that the OR of unemployment associated with being diagnosed with COVID-19 was 2.40 (95% CI: 1.15–5.01) and that the OR associated with being identified as a close contact was 0.98 (95% CI: 0.31–3.11).

Conclusions

There is an association between workers being diagnosed with COVID-19 and unemployment. The reason is not clear, but if the unemployment is unwanted by the individual, workplace adjustment may help prevent unwilling unemployment.

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  1. Version published to 10.1002/1348-9585.12317
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.07.05.21260053: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsField Sample Permit: This prospective cohort study about COVID-19 among Japanese workers was conducted under the CORoNaWork (Collaborative Online Research on the Novel-coronavirus and Work) Project.
    IRB: The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan (reference No. R2-079 and R3-006).
    Consent: Informed consent was obtained from all participants.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    RandomizationFor the baseline survey, on December 22–25, 2020, a total of 33,087 workers were recruited throughout Japan from 605,381 randomly selected panelists who were registered with an Internet survey company.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    All analyses were conducted using Stata (Stata Statistical Software release SE16.1; StataCorp LLC, College Station, TX, USA).
    StataCorp
    suggested: (Stata, RRID:SCR_012763)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Some limitations of this study warrant mention. First, exposure was assessed by asking about the existence of a history of COVID-19 in the baseline survey (at the end of December 2020), but it was not clear when respondents had been diagnosed with COVID-19 from January 16, 2020 (when the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Japan) and December 2020 (when the baseline survey was conducted). However, the number of people in Japan diagnosed with COVID-19 was overwhelmingly higher after October 2020, so it is very likely that most respondents in this study who had COVID-19 were diagnosed from October to December 2020. Second, information on past diagnosis was self-reported. However, almost all COVID-19 patients and people identified as close contacts are diagnosed after undergoing polymerase chain reaction testing. This process is rigorously followed to prevent the spread of infection, so the information is likely to be fairly accurate. Third, we did not investigate the reasons for unemployment except for starting their own business. As a result, we were unable to fully distinguish between cases in which workers resigned voluntarily and those in which their employment was terminated against their will. Future research should conduct analyses using survey data that allow for a thorough assessment of the reasons for unemployment. In conclusion, there is an association between workers being diagnosed with COVID-19 and unemployment. Occupational health professionals need to follow ...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.07.05.21260053v1 on medRxiv