Manual dexterity, tactile perception and inflammatory profile in HCWs affected by long Covid: A case - control study

COVID 19 infection in many cases has left a disabling condition usually referred to as “Long Covid” or “Post-Acute Covid Syndrome (PACS)”. Even if a scientific unanimous consensus is still lacking, the WHO defines Long Covid as “the presence of symptoms 3 months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection, lasting for at least 2 months with no other explanation” [1]. The global prevalence of long Covid varies widely, from 5 % to 43 %, depending on the case definition, length of follow-up, self-reported symptoms or confirmed diagnoses [2,3], while risk factors include: older age, female sex, pre-existing medical conditions, obesity, and severity of acute illness [4–7]. Among the wide range of multiple ongoing health problems and manifestations which have been recognized as related to the syndrome, the neuropsychological ones ranked high and are grouped together under the term “Neuro Long Covid”. This category includes central and peripheral nervous system dysfunctions, psychiatric manifestations and executive deficits [8], that are not always easy to define instrumentally. Healthcare workers (HCWs) constitute a high-risk population that presents a 24-fold higher probability of contracting COVID 19 than the general population [9], and may subsequently develop Long Covid syndrome depending on the above mentioned personal risk factors. A number of studies have been carried out on these professionals still complaining symptoms at different time points after acute COVID 19 [7,10–16], many of them detailing the types of disorders and the specific occupation, and some also investigating the HCWs perceived work ability after recovery [12,13] but no study up to date, to the best of our knowledge, has objectively evaluated what might be the impact of long- term COVID condition on fine manipulation skills in HCWs, which is extremely important in this type of job.