factors affecting return to work after covid-19 hospitalization in an iranian population

Background: in 2020, covid-19 was a major cause of absenteeism. objectives: to investigate the factors affecting the time taken to return to work after covid-19 hospitalization. methods: this was a cross-sectional study conducted on 320 working individuals (295 men and 25 women) hospitalized in yazd province, iran, due to covid-19 between september 2020 and march 2021. all patients who met the inclusion criteria and provided consent were enrolled in the study via census. the inclusion criteria were: a definite or probable diagnosis of covid-19 and hospitalization for no reason other than covid-19. the required information was collected through phone interviews using a researcher-developed questionnaire that included demographic, occupational, recent covid-19 infection, and return-to-work information. data were analyzed using spss software. results: the average duration of absenteeism was 31.67 ± 33.47 days. univariate regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between absenteeism lasting more than 21 days and several factors: age (p = 0.005), gender (p = 0.044), marital status (p = 0.005), number of dependents (p < 0.001), diabetes (p = 0.004), bmi (p = 0.031), job experience (p < 0.001), type of employment (p = 0.008), workplace respiratory exposures (p = 0.042), lower respiratory symptoms (p = 0.024), duration of hospitalization and medication use (p < 0.001), pulmonary complications (p < 0.001), and mental complications (p = 0.004). after adjusting for confounding factors, only three factors were significantly associated with a delay in return to work of more than 21 days: duration of medication use (p < 0.001), presence of pulmonary complications (p = 0.014), and presence of psychological complications (p = 0.040). conclusions: the severity of the disease, as indicated by the duration of medication use for covid-19 after discharge, and the presence of pulmonary and psychological complications, directly influenced the return to work after covid-19.