Occupation and SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence studies: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To describe and synthesise studies of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence by occupation prior to the widespread vaccine roll-out. METHODS: We identified studies of occupational seroprevalence from a living systematic review (PROSPERO CRD42020183634). Electronic databases, grey literature and news media were searched for studies published during January-December 2020. Seroprevalence estimates and a free-text description of the occupation were extracted and classified according to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) 2010 system using a machine-learning algorithm. Due to heterogeneity, results were synthesised narratively. RESULTS: We identified 196 studies including 591 940 participants from 38 countries. Most studies (n=162; 83%) were conducted locally versus regionally or nationally. Sample sizes were generally small (median=220 participants per occupation) and 135 studies (69%) were at a high risk of bias. One or more estimates were available for 21/23 major SOC occupation groups, but over half of the estimates identified (n=359/600) were for healthcare-related occupations. 'Personal Care and Service Occupations' (median 22% (IQR 9-28%); n=14) had the highest median seroprevalence. CONCLUSIONS: Many seroprevalence studies covering a broad range of occupations were published in the first year of the pandemic. Results suggest considerable differences in seroprevalence between occupations, although few large, high-quality studies were done. Well-designed studies are required to improve our understanding of the occupational risk of SARS-CoV-2 and should be considered as an element of pandemic preparedness for future respiratory pathogens.

The evolution of workplace risk for Covid-19 in Canadian healthcare workers and its relation to vaccination: A nested case-referent study.

BACKGROUND: During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, studies demonstrated that healthcare workers (HCWs) were at increased risk of infection. Few modifiable risks were identified. It is largely unknown how these evolved over time. METHODS: A prospective case-referent study was established and nested within a cohort study of Canadian HCWs. Cases of Covid-19, confirmed by polymerase chain reaction, were matched with up to four referents on job, province, gender, and date of first vaccination. Cases and referents completed a questionnaire reporting exposures and experiences in the 21 days before case date. Participants were recruited from October 2020 to March 2022. Workplace factors were examined by mixed-effects logistic regression allowing for competing exposures. A sensitivity analysis was limited to those for whom family/community transmission seemed unlikely. RESULTS: 533 cases were matched with 1697 referents. Among unvaccinated HCWs, the risk of infection was increased if they worked hands-on with patients with Covid-19, on a ward designated for care of infected patients, or handled objects used by infected patients. Sensitivity analysis identified work in residential institutions and geriatric wards as high risk for unvaccinated HCWs. Later, with almost universal HCW vaccination, risk from working with infected patients was much reduced but cases were more likely than referents to report being unable to access an N95 mask or that decontaminated N95 masks were reused. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that, after a rocky start, the risks of Covid-19 infection from work in health care are now largely contained in Canada but with need for continued vigilance.

Extended use or reuse of single-use surgical masks and filtering face-piece respirators during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: A rapid systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Shortages of personal protective equipment during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have led to the extended use or reuse of single-use respirators and surgical masks by frontline healthcare workers. The evidence base underpinning such practices warrants examination. OBJECTIVES: To synthesize current guidance and systematic review evidence on extended use, reuse, or reprocessing of single-use surgical masks or filtering face-piece respirators. DATA SOURCES: We used the World Health Organization, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Public Health England websites to identify guidance. We used Medline, PubMed, Epistemonikos, Cochrane Database, and preprint servers for systematic reviews. METHODS: Two reviewers conducted screening and data extraction. The quality of included systematic reviews was appraised using AMSTAR-2. Findings were narratively synthesized. RESULTS: In total, 6 guidance documents were identified. Levels of detail and consistency across documents varied. They included 4 high-quality systematic reviews: 3 focused on reprocessing (decontamination) of N95 respirators and 1 focused on reprocessing of surgical masks. Vaporized hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation were highlighted as the most promising reprocessing methods, but evidence on the relative efficacy and safety of different methods was limited. We found no well-established methods for reprocessing respirators at scale. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence on the impact of extended use and reuse of surgical masks and respirators is limited, and gaps and inconsistencies exist in current guidance. Where extended use or reuse is being practiced, healthcare organizations should ensure that policies and systems are in place to ensure these practices are carried out safely and in line with available guidance.

The application of artificial intelligence in the coding of occupational information

Many research studies seek to identify the social determinants of health and occupation is an important predictor, both at the level of the individual as well as for populations. Whereas job titles are usually solicited during interviews or by questionnaire, before being able to use this information the responses need to be categorized using a coding system, such as the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC).Manual coding is the usual method, which is a time-consuming and error-prone activity with variable or inconsistent outcomes from teams of coders. In recent work the ACA-NOC algorithm1 was developed to perform automated coding based on matching job title text with the NOC’s job titles and textual descriptions. This algorithm was benchmarked on a small sample manually coded data set with subject matter experts subsequent review of coding discrepancies to facilitate functional improvements to the algorithm. Performance levels achieved illustrated the viability of the approach albeit larger benchmarking data sets were required. CanPATH2has collected data from approximately 330,000 volunteer Canadians, including information about health, lifestyle, occupation, environment and behavior. We report on the further benchmarking and further development of this algorithm in CanPATH funded project using over 60,000 manually coded job titles from the constituent Alberta Tomorrow Project. The algorithm was also applied to over 100,000 un-coded job titles from Atlantic PATH, including the Core questionnaire and occupational history data.The core outcome of the project identified that auto-coding results are comparable to manual coding in accuracy and superior in speed e.g. 2 years of manual coding (64,000 records) can be auto coded in 72 hours. The algorithm was considered ready for deployment in operational settings: point of care, decision support for manual coders.Additional insights gained during the project revealed that (i) NOC and ATP data sets have a distribution bias where some NOC categories were over or under-represented and numerous non-standard lexical features were found in job titles and NOC job descriptions, (ii) benchmarking datasets from ATP included coding errors that were corrected by expert coders leading to the creation of gold standard test sets for further algorithm improvement studies, (iii) a study on 17 categories of occupations initially difficult to code, identified some job categories with near 90% coding accuracy.Automated coding of job titles to the NOC has been shown to be both practicable to good levels of accuracy and shown to significantly accelerate manual coding efforts from years to autocoding in a matter of hours without decrease in accuracy. Autocoding can replace costly, error prone manual labor with accurate point-of-care auto-coding such that patient occupation information during healthcare encounters could now supplement existing administrative data sets in electronic health record systems. This data can be used better to understand the socioeconomic consequences of health conditions, advise patients about returning to work with a health condition, recognizing occupations at risk of disease e.g. as in the COVID-19 pandemic.Bao H, Baker CJO, Adisesh A. Occupation coding of job titles: iterative development of an automated coding algorithm for the canadian national occupation classification (ACA-NOC). JMIR Form Res 2020 Aug 5;4(8):e16422. doi:10.2196/16422CanPath the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project. https://canpath.ca/ accessed: 01.09.2021

An Integrated Database of Occupational Information From O*NET-SOC and the Canadian Career Handbook

IntroductionInformation about occupations and job attributes is available in siloed databases. The lack of integrated data precludes ad-hoc querying and research investigating occupational determinants of health e.g. COVID-19 or stress. Core to integration of occupation data is taxonomic representation of job categories. In North America the official occupational taxonomies are the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC) and the United States Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).ObjectivesThis study aimed to integrate job attribute data from the Canadian Career Handbook (CH) and O*NET database to facilitate cross-classification query capabilities and to prototype the creation of metrics for comparing occupations based on job attributes.MethodsThe integrated database was completedhierarchical structures of both occupational taxonomies were represented;job attributes were selected from the CH and O*NET-SOC;the database was populated with occupational descriptions;occupational codes from the CH and O*NET-SOC were linked using the Brookfield Institute NOC to O*NET-SOC crosswalk.ResultsThe database consists of 1679 rows with unique occupations and 181 columns with occupational attributes. Rows contain a unique combination of hierarchical structures from the CH and O*NET-SOC. Rows also contain detailed occupational descriptions from CH and O*NET-SOC. We queried the integrated data checking O*NET-SOC to CH equivalence and cross-taxonomy selection of job attributes, e.g. Retrieve all or selected attributes for an occupation by CH code or equivalent code in O*NET-SOC. We ran queries for targeted scenarios to retrieve occupations: i) where work is done in physical proximity to others, ii) where incumbents are exposed to disease or infections, iii) at risk of back pain due to physical work factors, iv) where incumbents experience high work-related stressors.ConclusionWe report a database combining selected information from the CH and O*NET-SOC that facilitates complex occupational health queries. Further we investigated work-related stressors on low back pain risk by occupation.

COVID-19 infection and mental wellness in a Canadian cohort study of healthcare workers

IntroductionHealthcare workers (HCW) working through the pandemic are in the front line for infection, psychological pressure and overwork.ObjectivesTo identify modifiable work factors associated with COVID-19 infection and mental distress, and to assess the effectiveness of provisions to mitigate their impact.MethodsA cohort study of HCWs was set up in the first weeks of the pandemic in Canada. HCWs from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec completed an online questionnaire in the spring/summer of 2020, and a Phase 2 questionnaire from October 2020. They also provided a blood sample to assess SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. HCWs reporting a COVID-19 infection after the Phase 2 questionnaire were matched on job-type and province to 4 referents for a nested case-referent (C-R) study concentrating on exposures immediately prior to infection. Phase 3 is underway, with a final contact planned for March 2022.Results5135 HCWs completed the Phase 1 questionnaire with 93% (4539/4857) of those eligible completing Phase 2. By March 1st 2021, 157 cases had been confirmed by PCR and a further 10 found positive only on antibody testing (an overall rate of 3.3%). The odds of infection doubled for working one-on-one with known COVID-19 patients. Rates were lower in physicians and nurses, compared to personal support workers, health care aides, and licensed practical nurses. HCWs in a hospital setting had lower rates than those working in the community, where shortages of personal protective equipment were more widespread. High rates of anxiety (on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) were recorded in both Phase 1 and 2. Only 1 in 4 HCW had used available mental health supports. By May 2021, 100 cases with 389 referents had been recruited to the on-going C-R study.ConclusionInformation collected prospectively has the potential to improve HCWs protection during this and future epidemics.

Performance and impact of disposable and reusable respirators for healthcare workers during pandemic respiratory disease: a rapid evidence review.

OBJECTIVES: To synthesise evidence concerning the range of filtering respirators suitable for patient care and guide the selection and use of different respirator types. DESIGN: Comparative analysis of international standards for respirators and rapid review of their performance and impact in healthcare. DATA SOURCES: Websites of international standards organisations, Medline and Embase, hand-searching of references and citations. STUDY SELECTION: Studies of healthcare workers (including students) using disposable or reusable respirators with a range of designs. We examined respirator performance, clinician adherence and performance, comfort and impact, and perceptions of use. RESULTS: We included standards from eight authorities across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australasia and 39 research studies. There were four main findings. First, international standards for respirators apply across workplace settings and are broadly comparable across jurisdictions. Second, effective and safe respirator use depends on proper fitting and fit testing. Third, all respirator types carry a burden to the user of discomfort and interference with communication which may limit their safe use over long periods; studies suggest that they have little impact on specific clinical skills in the short term but there is limited evidence on the impact of prolonged wearing. Finally, some clinical activities, particularly chest compressions, reduce the performance of filtering facepiece respirators. CONCLUSION: A wide range of respirator types and models is available for use in patient care during respiratory pandemics. Careful consideration of performance and impact of respirators is needed to maximise protection of healthcare workers and minimise disruption to care.

Politics of disease control in Africa and the critical role of global health diplomacy: A systematic review.

Background: Africa is facing the triple burden of communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and nutritional disorders. Multilateral institutions, bilateral arrangements, and philanthropies have historically privileged economic development over health concerns. That focus has resulted in weak health systems and inadequate preparedness when there are outbreaks of diseases. This review aims to understand the politics of disease control in Africa and global health diplomacy's (GHD's) critical role. Methods: A literature review was done in Medline/PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and Google scholar search engines. Keywords included MeSH and common terms related to the topics: "Politics," "disease control," "epidemics/ endemics," and "global health diplomacy" in the "African" context. The resources also included reports of World Health Organization, United Nations and resolutions of the World Health Assembly (WHA). Results: African countries continue to struggle in their attempts to build health systems for disease control that are robust enough to tackle the frequent epidemics that plague the continent. The politics of disease control requires the crafting of cooperative partnerships to accommodate the divergent interests of multiple actors. Recent outbreaks of COVID-19 and Ebola had a significant impact on African economies. It is extremely important to prioritize health in the African development agendas. The African Union (AU) should leverage the momentum of the rise of GHD to (i) navigate the politics of global health governance in an interconnected world(ii) develop robust preparedness and disease response strategies to tackle emerging and reemerging disease epidemics in the region (iii) address the linkages between health and broader human security issues driven by climate change-induced food, water, and other insecurities (iv) mobilize resources and capacities to train health officials in the craft of diplomacy. Conclusion: The AU, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and African Centres for Disease Control should harmonize their plans and strategies and align them towards a common goal that integrates health in African development agendas. The AU must innovatively harness the practice and tools of GHD towards developing the necessary partnerships with relevant actors in the global health arena to achieve the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Twitter Analytics to Inform Provisional Guidance for COVID-19 Challenges in the Meatpacking Industry.

The COVID-19 pandemic raised considerable challenges to obtain reliable guidance to help occupational health practitioners, workers, and stakeholders building up efficient prevention strategies at the workplace, between the constant increase of publications in the domain, the time required to run high-quality research and systematic reviews, and the urgent need to identify areas for prevention at the workplace. Social Media and Twitter, in particular, have already been used in research and constitute a useful source of information to identify community needs and topics of interest for prevention in the meatpacking industry. In this commentary, we introduce the methods and tools we used to screen relevant posts on Twitter. Twitter analytics is a way to capture real-time concerns of the community and help ensure compliance with the notion of social accountability. As such research has limitations in terms of exhaustiveness and level of evidence, it should be considered as provisional guidance to direct both actions at the workplace and further conventional research projects.

Telemedicine Across the Globe-Position Paper From the COVID-19 Pandemic Health System Resilience PROGRAM (REPROGRAM) International Consortium (Part 1).

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine globally. The current consortium critically examines the telemedicine frameworks, identifies gaps in its implementation and investigates the changes in telemedicine framework/s during COVID-19 across the globe. Streamlining of global public health preparedness framework that is interoperable and allow for collaboration and sharing of resources, in which telemedicine is an integral part of the public health response during outbreaks such as COVID-19, should be pursued. With adequate reinforcement, telemedicine has the potential to act as the "safety-net" of our public health response to an outbreak. Our focus on telemedicine must shift to the developing and under-developing nations, which carry a disproportionate burden of vulnerable communities who are at risk due to COVID-19.

Classification of aerosol-generating procedures: a rapid systematic review.

In the context of covid-19, aerosol generating procedures have been highlighted as requiring a higher grade of personal protective equipment. We investigated how official guidance documents and academic publications have classified procedures in terms of whether or not they are aerosol-generating. We performed a rapid systematic review using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses standards. Guidelines, policy documents and academic papers published in english or french offering guidance on aerosol-generating procedures were eligible. We systematically searched two medical databases (medline, cochrane central) and one public search engine (google) in march and april 2020. Data on how each procedure was classified by each source were extracted. We determined the level of agreement across different guidelines for each procedure group, in terms of its classification as aerosol generating, possibly aerosol-generating, or nonaerosol-generating. 128 documents met our inclusion criteria; they contained 1248 mentions of procedures that we categorised into 39 procedure groups. Procedures classified as aerosol-generating or possibly aerosol-generating by ≥90% of documents included autopsy, surgery/postmortem procedures with high-speed devices, intubation and extubation procedures, bronchoscopy, sputum induction, manual ventilation, airway suctioning, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, tracheostomy and tracheostomy procedures, non-invasive ventilation, high-flow oxygen therapy, breaking closed ventilation systems, nebulised or aerosol therapy, and high frequency oscillatory ventilation. Disagreements existed between sources on some procedure groups, including oral and dental procedures, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, thoracic surgery and procedures, and nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabbing. There is sufficient evidence of agreement across different international guidelines to classify certain procedure groups as aerosol generating. However, some clinically relevant procedures received surprisingly little mention in our source documents. To reduce dissent on the remainder, we recommend that (a) clinicians define procedures more clearly and specifically, breaking them down into their constituent components where possible; (b) researchers undertake further studies of aerosolisation during these procedures; and (c) guideline-making and policy-making bodies address a wider range of procedures.

Telemedicine as the New Outpatient Clinic Gone Digital: Position Paper From the Pandemic Health System REsilience PROGRAM (REPROGRAM) International Consortium (Part 2).

Technology has acted as a great enabler of patient continuity through remote consultation, ongoing monitoring, and patient education using telephone and videoconferencing in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era. The devastating impact of COVID-19 is bound to prevail beyond its current reign. The vulnerable sections of our community, including the elderly, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, those with multiple comorbidities, and immunocompromised patients, endure a relatively higher burden of a pandemic such as COVID-19. The rapid adoption of different technologies across countries, driven by the need to provide continued medical care in the era of social distancing, has catalyzed the penetration of telemedicine. Limiting the exposure of patients, healthcare workers, and systems is critical in controlling the viral spread. Telemedicine offers an opportunity to improve health systems delivery, access, and efficiency. This article critically examines the current telemedicine landscape and challenges in its adoption, toward remote/tele-delivery of care, across various medical specialties. The current consortium provides a roadmap and/or framework, along with recommendations, for telemedicine uptake and implementation in clinical practice during and beyond COVID-19.

Key Strategies for Clinical Management and Improvement of Healthcare Services for Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes Patients in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Settings: Recommendations From the REPROGRAM Consortium.

Patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes are at potentially higher risk of infection and fatality due to COVID-19. Given the social and economic costs associated with disability due to these conditions, it is imperative that specific considerations for clinical management of these patients be observed. Moreover, the reorganization of health services around the pandemic response further exacerbates the growing crisis around limited access, treatment compliance, acute medical needs, and mental health of patients in this specific subgroup. Existing recommendations and guidelines emanating from respective bodies have addressed some of the pressure points; however, there are variations and limitations vis a vis patient with multiple comorbidities such as obesity. This article will pull together a comprehensive assessment of the association of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and COVID-19, its impact on the health systems and how best health systems can respond to mitigate current challenges and future needs. We anticipate that in the context of this pandemic, the cardiovascular disease and diabetes patients need a targeted strategy to ensure the harm to this group does not translate to huge costs to society and to the economy. Finally, we propose a triage and management protocol for patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in the COVID-19 settings to minimize harm to patients, health systems and healthcare workers alike.

Canada's role in strengthening global health security during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The world is confronted by the current pandemic of Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19), which is a wake-up call for all nations irrespective of their development status or geographical location. Since the start of the century we have seen five big infectious outbreaks which proved that epidemics are no more regarded as historic and geographically confined threats. The Canadian government underlined that these infectious disease outbreaks are threats to global health security and disrupt societal wellbeing and development. In this context, the Public Health Agency of Canada is proactive and has shown its preparedness for outbreaks of emerging and epidemic-prone diseases, and in dealing with these pathogens. Even before the declaration of pandemic, Canada has proved its global health leadership by ensuring collective action and multisectoral coordination which still remains a serious challenge especially for low and middle- income countries with existing poor health systems. In this article we discuss how Canada is addressing the global challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic through its leadership and practice of global health diplomacy.