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Objectives: We aim to study the clinical characteristics and risk factors for mortality of doctors and nurses hospitalized with COVID-19. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study. All doctors and nurses positive on reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test of nasopharyngeal or/and oropharyngeal samples for COVID-19 who were admitted in this designated COVID hospital from April 2020 to January 2021 and with a definite outcome (death or discharge) till the end of January 2021 were included in this study. To explore the risk factors associated with mortality of health-care workers (HCWs), bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done. Results: Out of 1048 HCWs, 846 (80.7%) were doctors and 202 (19.3%) were nurses. Majority (619, 59.15%) of the HCWs were young (18-30 years). Most (185, 91.6%) of the nurses were female, while majority (533, 63%) of the doctors were male. The 11 (1%) HCWs who died were all doctors, but the difference was not statistically significant. Total 121 (11.54%) HCWs had comorbidities, and hypertension 70 (6.7%) and diabetes 62 (5.9%) were most common. Age > 60 years (adjusted odds ratios [AOR] [confidence interval (CI)] = 36.01 [3.45-375.5]) and suffering from diabetes mellitus (AOR [CI] = 10.4 [1.82-59.51]) were found to be significant predictors for the death of HCWs after adjusting for potential confounders. Conclusion: The mortality rate due to COVID-19 in doctors and nurses was lower (1%) as compared to the general population as most of the HCWs were young and with a low prevalence of comorbidities. Age > 60 years and diabetes mellitus were risk factors for death;such HCWs should avoid contact with COVID-19 patients. Screening of HCWs for COVID-19 is important to reduce its transmission.
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Objectives: The objective of this study was to study the clinical presentation and infection prevention and control (IPC) measures in health-care workers (HCWs) diagnosed with COVID-19 in a Dedicated COVID Hospital (DCH). Materials and Methods: It was a prospective cohort study of HCWs in a DCH. The new cases found in HCWs from December 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021, were interviewed and followed up for 1 month. The study was part of an international multicenter study by the World Health Organization (WHO). The doctors, nurses, housekeeping, and other staff working in this DCH were considered as HCWs. WANTAI severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Ab ELISA provided by the WHO was used for qualitative testing antibody (IgM + IgG). Paired serology samples from cases were collected for serology testing - comprising one baseline serum sample taken during week 1 and another taken in the 6th week. Results: Out of the 1340 HCWs, 25 HCWs (including 15 doctors) developed COVID-19 in 60 days. Most (17, 68%) of the HCWs were from the age group of 21 to 30 years. All the HCWs reported receiving training in IPC. Most (21, 84%) of the HCWs reported following hand hygiene always, as recommended. Most (22, 88%) of the HCWs reported being using recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) always, as recommended. The duration of hospital stay was 10 & PLUSMN;3.6 days (mean & PLUSMN;standard deviation) and the range was 4-18 days. There was no significant difference between infection prevention and control practices of doctors and other HCWs. In our study, all the patients had mild disease and the antibody titer was positive in 7 (28%) patients in the 1st week of illness and in 20 (80%) patients in the 6th week of illness. The most common symptoms were respiratory symptoms (60%), sore throat (52%), fever (48%), cough (44%), and joint ache (20%). Two (8%) HCWs were asymptomatic. Conclusion: The incidence of COVID-19 among HCWs can be kept low by proper IPC measures such as availability of PPE and training of HCWs in IPC.
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Objectives: Our study aimed to evaluate the risk factors for the cessation of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA detection in a cohort of inpatients of laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based, cross-sectional study. All COVID-19 patients positive on the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) test of nasopharyngeal samples who were admitted in this Dedicated COVID Hospital (DCH) from April to June 2020 were included in this study. The deceased patients were excluded.Cessation of Viral RNA Shedding (CVS) was considered to have been achieved on the date of the first negative SARS-CoV-2 RTPCR result out of the two consecutive negative SARS-CoV-2 PCR results on nasopharyngeal swabs taken 24 h apart. Results: Of the 4632 COVID-19 patients, 3307 (71.4%) patients achieved CVS. Patients had a median (IQR) time from positive to negative PCR of 16 (11-23) days. In multivariate cox regression analysis, age group 41 - 60 years (hazard ratio [HR], 0.76;95% confidence interval [CI], 0.63-0.91), age > 60 years (HR [CI] = 0.63 [0.53-0.78]), female sex (HR [CI] = 1.08 [1.01-1.16]), cancer (HR [CI] = 1.87 [1.03-3.41]) were the independent risk factors for cessation of viral shedding. Conclusion: Patients older than 40 years, male patients were shedding viral RNA for more duration and can be considered for the isolation for a longer duration.
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OBJECTIVES: To study the risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection in health care workers (HCWs) exposed to COVID-19 patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a nested case-control study of health care workers(HCWs) in a Dedicated COVID Hospital(DCH). The data collection was done from Dec 2020 to Feb 2021. The study was part of an international multicenter study by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 2 The Doctors, nurses, housekeeping staff, clerks, and other staff working in this DCH were considered as HCWs. HCWs working in this DCH with confirmed COVID-19 were recruited as cases and other HCWs working in this DCH in the same Ward/ICU/office without infection were recruited as controls (incidence density sampling). Three controls were taken per case. The questions were in the Likert scale. RESULTS: There were 25 cases and their 75 controls. There was no significant difference between cases and controls with respect to age, sex, occupation, education, and comorbidities and all controls were negative for antibodies at the time of the interview. Most (70%) of the HCWs were doctor by profession followed by nurses (19%). All HCWs were trained in IPC (infection Prevention and Control). Most (96%) HCWs reported that PPE (personal protective equipment) is available in sufficient quantity. There was no significant difference between cases and controls with respect to those having direct contact with the patient's materials, surroundings, and following hand hygiene. CONCLUSION: Adequate availability of PPE, IPC training of HCWs are important for preventing COVID-19 but do not completely reduce risk among HCWs.
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Objectives: To study the risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection in health care workers (HCWs) exposed to COVID-19 patients. Material and Methods: This was a nested case-control study of health care workers(HCWs) in a Dedicated COVID Hospital(DCH). The data collection was done from Dec 2020 to Feb 2021. The study was part of an international multicenter study by the World Health Organisation (WHO).2 The Doctors, nurses, housekeeping staff, clerks, and other staff working in this DCH were considered as HCWs. HCWs working in this DCH with confirmed COVID-19 were recruited as cases and other HCWs working in this DCH in the same Ward/ICU/office without infection were recruited as controls (incidence density sampling). Three controls were taken per case. The questions were in the Likert scale. Results: There were 25 cases and their 75 controls. There was no significant difference between cases and controls with respect to age, sex, occupation, education, and comorbidities and all controls were negative for antibodies at the time of the interview. Most (70%) of the HCWs were doctor by profession followed by nurses (19%). All HCWs were trained in IPC (infection Prevention and Control). Most (96%) HCWs reported that PPE (personal protective equipment) is available in sufficient quantity. There was no significant difference between cases and controls with respect to those having direct contact with the patient's materials, surroundings, and following hand hygiene. Conclusion: Adequate availability of PPE, IPC training of HCWs are important for preventing COVID-19 but do not completely reduce risk among HCWs. © 2021 Journal of Association of Physicians of India. All rights reserved.
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Objectives: To estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among HCWs, and to study the factors associated with this seroprevalence. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study of HCWs from a Dedicated COVID Hospital was conducted from December 2020 to February 2021. Universal sampling for qualitative testing(by COVID-19 IgG rapid test device by Voxpress) was done and the samples which tested positive were subjected to quantitative testing (chemiluminescent immunoassay) by Serial testing.3 Results A total of 1005 HCWs were tested out of which 124(12.3%) tested positive by qualitative test and 101(10%) tested positive by both tests. Out of the 1005 HCWs, 155(15.4%) were doctors and 496 (49.4%) were nurses. There was statistically no significant difference between the seropositivity of HCWs with regards to the designation, age, place of work, duration of work in this DCH and Comorbidities. Most HCWs received training in Infection prevention and control(IPC) 988(98.3%), used personal protective equipment(PPE) whenever indicated 997(99.2%), performed hand hygiene before and after handling patients or their material 981(97.6%). Out of 1005 HCWs, 116(11.5%) had a history of COVID-19.The seroprevalence in HCWs not having history of COVID-19 was 74(8.3%). Conclusion: Good infection prevention practices can keep the infection rate in HCWs low. HCWs with mild symptoms should also be tested and asymptomatic HCWs should be screened periodically to decrease the spread of COVID-19. © 2021 Journal of Association of Physicians of India. All rights reserved.