ArticleBMJ global health2023
Conceptualising the episodic nature of disability among adults living with Long COVID: a qualitative study.
Article in BMJ global health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors influencing work ability and return-to-work in individuals affected by post-COVID: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Psychosocial Aspects of the Lived Experience of Long COVID: A Systematic Review and Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Studies.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- Personalisation at the Core of Success: Process Evaluation of the LISTEN Randomised Controlled Trial Evaluating a Personalised Self-Management Support Intervention for People Living With Long Covid.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Battling the Bots and Defending Against Fraudulent Responses in an International Community-Engaged Web-Based Survey With People Living With Long COVID: Methodological Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Folic Acid and Endothelial Dysfunction in COVID-19.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Long COVID and Its Impact on Healthcare Worker's Job Performance: A Qualitative Study in Spain.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2026Article
- Digital physiological biomarkers predict within-person symptom changes in complex chronic illness.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Long COVID and the Challenge of Long-Term Employment: An Ecological, Sequential Explanatory Mixed-Methods Approach.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Long-term sex differences in symptoms and immune profile in long COVID.Biology of sex differences · 2026Article
- Rethinking measurement of health outcomes in Long COVID: complexities, challenges and considerations.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2026Article
- Characterizing Neuro-PASC outcome with the mobile Neuro-COVID recovery care companion application.BMC neurology · 2026Article
- The lived experience of long COVID: A thematic analysis of an in-depth interview study.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- Challenges to continuity of care among patients with long COVID-related taste and smell disorders: a qualitative study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- COVID-19-associated neurological and psychological manifestations.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2025Review
- Article
- Prevalence, Severity, Concomitant Factors, and Natural Trajectory of Insomnia in Patients with Long COVID.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Community Engagement in Long Covid Research: Process, Evaluation and Recommendations From the Long COVID and Episodic Disability Study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2025Article
- Diverse community perspectives on public health guidelines for social connection: a qualitative study in Canada.Health promotion international · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
22 authors at 11 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionOur aim was to describe episodic nature of disability among adults living with Long COVID.
methodsWe conducted a community-engaged qualitative descriptive study involving online semistructured interviews and participant visual illustrations. We recruited participants via collaborator community organisations in Canada, Ireland, UK and USA.We recruited adults who self-identified as living with Long COVID with diversity in age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation and duration since initial COVID infection between December 2021 and May 2022. We used a semistructured interview guide to explore experiences of disability living with Long COVID, specifically health-related challenges and how they were experienced over time. We asked participants to draw their health trajectory and conducted a group-based content analysis.
resultsAmong the 40 participants, the median age was 39 years (IQR: 32-49); majority were women (63%), white (73%), heterosexual (75%) and living with Long COVID for ≥1 year (83%). Participants described their disability experiences as episodic in nature, characterised by fluctuations in presence and severity of health-related challenges (disability) that may occur both within a day and over the long-term living with Long COVID. They described living with 'ups and downs', 'flare-ups' and 'peaks' followed by 'crashes', 'troughs' and 'valleys', likened to a 'yo-yo', 'rolling hills' and 'rollercoaster ride' with 'relapsing/remitting', 'waxing/waning', 'fluctuations' in health. Drawn illustrations demonstrated variety of trajectories across health dimensions, some more episodic than others. Uncertainty intersected with the episodic nature of disability, characterised as unpredictability of episodes, their length, severity and triggers, and process of long-term trajectory, which had implications on broader health.
conclusionAmong this sample of adults living with Long COVID, experiences of disability were described as episodic, characterised by fluctuating health challenges, which may be unpredictable in nature. Results can help to better understand experiences of disability among adults living with Long COVID to inform healthcare and rehabilitation.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.