TITLE:
Work Ability Index and Work Ability Score: A Comparation between both Scores in a Persistent COVID-19 Cohort
AUTHORS:
Carmen Muñoz-Ruiperez, Diego Alvaredo Rodrigo, Daniel Arroyo-Sánchez, Juan Francisco Álvarez Zarallo, Ignacio Sánchez-Arcilla Conejo, José Lorenzo Bravo Grande
KEYWORDS:
Work Ability Index, Work Ability Score, Post COVID-19 Condition, Occupational Health, Occupational Medicine
JOURNAL NAME:
Occupational Diseases and Environmental Medicine,
Vol.12 No.1,
February
21,
2024
ABSTRACT: Aims: The present study aims to compare the assessment of work ability based on the use of the Work Ability Index (WAI) with another questionnaire base only on the use of WAI’s first item, termed as the “Work Ability Score” (WAS). Study design: A cohort of 384 Spanish workers included in a Post COVID-19 condition or persistent COVID-19 multicenter research was utilized. Place and Duration of Study: This cohort was enlisted in four hospitals (Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid; Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Sevilla, Andalucía; Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid and Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca, Castilla y León), since 2021 until 2022. Methodology: 384 Spanish workers (176 men and 208 women; aged 20 to 70 years) with Post COVID-19 condition or persistent COVID-19 were included. Descriptive analysis of primary scores was conducted. Given the non-normal distribution of data, the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were employed. Spearman and Kendall correlations were employed to assess the relationship between WAI and WAS, also used weighted Kappa to estimate the degree agreement between WAI and WAS. Logistic regression models were utilized to study determinants influencing WAI and WAS, categorized as poor or moderate. Results: WAI had an average score of 32.98 (SD = 10.28), whereas WAS had an average of 5.95 (SD = 2.77). Significant differences were observed in both WAI and WAS across the same variables. Strong and statistically significant correlations were evident between WAI and WAS (rs = 0.83, p