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George LS, Tomy C, Retnakumar C, Narlawar U, Bhardwaj P, Krishnan J, Rao RLL, Patel P, Bilimale AS, Baby P, Mathew MM, Cassini A, Simniceanu A, Yin M, Allegranzi B, Ahmad M, Rahman A, Mohiuddin SA, Thakre S, Bhansali SS, Vohra R, Krishnan H, Logaraj M, Maheriya V, Gharat V, Dipu TS, Solomon H, Sharma S, Shwethashree M, Hegde R, Ansari MWF, Misra S. Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection among health workers in India: a case control study. Front Public Health 2023; 11:1156782. [PMID: 37325312 PMCID: PMC10264666 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1156782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Background COVID-19 was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30th January 2020. Compared to the general population, healthcare workers and their families have been identified to be at a higher risk of getting infected with COVID-19. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the risk factors responsible for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection among health workers in different hospital settings and to describe the range of clinical presentations of SARS-CoV-2 infection among them. Methodology A nested case-control study was conducted among healthcare workers who were involved in the care of COVID-19 cases for assessing the risk factors associated with it. To get a holistic perspective, the study was conducted in 19 different hospitals from across 7 states (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan) of India covering the major government and private hospitals that were actively involved in COVID-19 patient care. The study participants who were not vaccinated were enrolled using the incidence density sampling technique from December 2020 to December 2021. Results A total of 973 health workers consisting of 345 cases and 628 controls were recruited for the study. The mean age of the participants was observed to be 31.17 ± 8.5 years, with 56.3% of them being females. On multivariate analysis, the factors that were found to be significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 were age of more than 31 years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.407 [95% CI 1.53-1.880]; p = 0.021), male gender (aOR 1.342 [95% CI 1.019-1.768]; p = 0.036), practical mode of IPC training on personal protective equipment (aOR 1. 1.935 [95% CI 1.148-3.260]; p = 0.013), direct exposure to COVID-19 patient (aOR 1.413 [95% CI 1.006-1.985]; p = 0.046), presence of diabetes mellitus (aOR 2.895 [95% CI 1.079-7.770]; p = 0.035) and those received prophylactic treatment for COVID-19 in the last 14 days (aOR 1.866 [95% CI 0.201-2.901]; p = 0.006). Conclusion The study was able to highlight the need for having a separate hospital infection control department that implements IPC programs regularly. The study also emphasizes the need for developing policies that address the occupational hazards faced by health workers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leyanna Susan George
- Department of Community Medicine, Amrita School of Medicine, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India
- Scientist E, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Chitra Tomy
- Department of Community Medicine, Amrita School of Medicine, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India
| | - Charutha Retnakumar
- Department of Community Medicine, Amrita School of Medicine, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India
| | - Uday Narlawar
- Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Nagpur, India
| | - Pankaj Bhardwaj
- Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences Jodhpur, Jodhpur, India
| | | | | | - Prakash Patel
- Community Medicine Department, Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education and Research, Surat, India
| | - Anil S. Bilimale
- School of Public Health and Department of Community Medicine, JSS Medical College, Mysuru, Karnataka, India
| | - Poornima Baby
- Department of Microbiology, Amrita School of Medicine, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India
| | - Minu Maria Mathew
- Department of Community Medicine, Amrita School of Medicine, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India
| | | | | | - Mo Yin
- World Health Organization (Switzerland), Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Anisur Rahman
- Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur, India
| | | | | | | | - Rajaat Vohra
- SRM Institutes for Medical Science, SRM University, Chennai, India
| | | | - M. Logaraj
- GMERS Medical College, Sola, Ahmedabad, India
| | | | - Vaibhav Gharat
- Infectious Diseases, Amrita School of Medicine, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India
| | - T. S. Dipu
- Infectious Diseases, Amrita School of Medicine, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kochi, India
| | | | - Sarita Sharma
- Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Nagpur, India
| | - M. Shwethashree
- School of Public Health and Department of Community Medicine, JSS Medical College, Mysuru, Karnataka, India
| | - Rahul Hegde
- Department of Community Medicine, KS Hegde Medical Academy, Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangalore, India
| | | | - Sanjeev Misra
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences Jodhpur, Jodhpur, India
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