TY - JOUR
T1 - Associations between different measures of SARS-CoV-2 infection status and subsequent economic inactivity
T2 - A pooled analysis of five longitudinal surveys linked to healthcare records
AU - Shaw, Richard J.
AU - Hamilton, Olivia K.L.
AU - Rhead, Rebecca
AU - Silverwood, Richard J.
AU - Wels, Jacques
AU - Zhu, Jingmin
AU - Di Gessa, Giorgio
AU - Bowyer, Ruth C.E.
AU - Moltrecht, Bettina
AU - Green, Michael J.
AU - Demou, Evangelia
AU - Pattaro, Serena
AU - Zaninotto, Paola
AU - Boyd, Andy
AU - Greaves, Felix
AU - Chaturvedi, Nishi
AU - Ploubidis, George B.
AU - Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Shaw et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2025/4/9
Y1 - 2025/4/9
N2 - Introduction Following the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of people became economically inactive in the UK. We investigated the association between coronavirus infection and subsequent economic inactivity among people employed pre-pandemic, and whether this association varied between self-report versus healthcare recorded infection status. Methods We pooled data from five longitudinal studies (1970 British Cohort Study, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, 1958 National Child Development Study, Next Steps, and Understanding Society), in two databases: the UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UKLLC), which links study data to NHS England records, and the UK Data Service (UKDS), which does not. The study population were aged 25-65 years between April 2020 to March 2021. The outcome was economic inactivity measured at the time of the last survey (November 2020 to March 2021). The exposures were COVID-19 status, indicated by a positive SARS-CoV-2 test in NHS records (UKLLC sample only), or by self-reported measures of coronavirus infection (both samples). Logistic regression models estimated odds ratios (ORs) adjusting for potential confounders including sociodemographic variables and pre-pandemic health. Results Within the UKLLC sample (N = 8,174), both a positive SARS-CoV-2 test in NHS records (5.9% of the sample; OR 1.08, 95%CI 0.68-1.73) and self-reported positive tests (6.5% of the sample; OR 1.07, 95%CI 0.68-1.69), were marginally and non-significantly associated with economic inactivity (5.3% of the sample) in adjusted analyses. Within the larger UKDS sample (n = 13,881) reliant on self-reported ascertainment of infection (6.4% of the sample), the coefficient indicated a null relationship (OR 0.98, 95%CI 0.68-1.40) with economic inactivity (5.0% of sample). Conclusions Among people employed pre-pandemic, testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 was not associated with increased economic inactivity, although we could not exclude small effects. Ascertaining infection through healthcare records or self-report made little difference to results. However, processes related to record linkage may introduce small biases.
AB - Introduction Following the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, a record number of people became economically inactive in the UK. We investigated the association between coronavirus infection and subsequent economic inactivity among people employed pre-pandemic, and whether this association varied between self-report versus healthcare recorded infection status. Methods We pooled data from five longitudinal studies (1970 British Cohort Study, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, 1958 National Child Development Study, Next Steps, and Understanding Society), in two databases: the UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UKLLC), which links study data to NHS England records, and the UK Data Service (UKDS), which does not. The study population were aged 25-65 years between April 2020 to March 2021. The outcome was economic inactivity measured at the time of the last survey (November 2020 to March 2021). The exposures were COVID-19 status, indicated by a positive SARS-CoV-2 test in NHS records (UKLLC sample only), or by self-reported measures of coronavirus infection (both samples). Logistic regression models estimated odds ratios (ORs) adjusting for potential confounders including sociodemographic variables and pre-pandemic health. Results Within the UKLLC sample (N = 8,174), both a positive SARS-CoV-2 test in NHS records (5.9% of the sample; OR 1.08, 95%CI 0.68-1.73) and self-reported positive tests (6.5% of the sample; OR 1.07, 95%CI 0.68-1.69), were marginally and non-significantly associated with economic inactivity (5.3% of the sample) in adjusted analyses. Within the larger UKDS sample (n = 13,881) reliant on self-reported ascertainment of infection (6.4% of the sample), the coefficient indicated a null relationship (OR 0.98, 95%CI 0.68-1.40) with economic inactivity (5.0% of sample). Conclusions Among people employed pre-pandemic, testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 was not associated with increased economic inactivity, although we could not exclude small effects. Ascertaining infection through healthcare records or self-report made little difference to results. However, processes related to record linkage may introduce small biases.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105002594295&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0321201
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0321201
M3 - Article
C2 - 40203025
AN - SCOPUS:105002594295
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 20
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 4 April
M1 - e0321201
ER -
