Risk factors and frequency of COVID-19 among healthcare workers at a tertiary care centre in India: a case–control study
Dev et al.,
Risk factors and frequency of COVID-19 among healthcare workers at a tertiary care centre in India: a..,
Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, doi:10.1093/trstmh/trab047
Retrospective case control study of 3,100 healthcare workers in India showing lower cases with HCQ prophylaxis, and an inverse association between the number of HCQ doses taken and the risk of COVID-19 cases. Low risk population with no mortality and no severe cases.
risk of case, 26.0% lower, RR 0.74, p = 0.003, treatment 260, control 499, any number of HCQ doses vs. no HCQ prophylaxis.
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Effect extraction follows pre-specified rules prioritizing more serious outcomes. Submit updates
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Dev et al., 24 Mar 2021, retrospective, India, peer-reviewed, 5 authors.
Abstract: Risk factors and frequency of COVID-19 among healthcare workers at
a tertiary care centre in India: a case–control study
Nishanth Dev
a
a,∗,†
, Ramesh Chand Meenaa,† , D. K. Guptaa , Nitesh Guptab , and Jhuma Sankarc
∗ Corresponding
author: Tel: +919717283133; E-mail: devnishant@gmail.com
† Joint first authors.
Received 23 November 2020; revised 15 February 2021; editorial decision 20 February 2021; accepted 3 March 2021
Background: There is a paucity of data on risk factors for infection among healthcare workers (HCWs) from India.
Our objective was to evaluate the risk factors and frequency of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus
2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among HCWs.
Methods: We conducted this retrospective case–control study of 3100 HCWs between May and July 2020. HCWs
positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection were the cases (n=506) and those negative for SARS-CoV-2 were the controls
(n=253). Univariate analysis was followed by multivariate analysis of key demographic, clinical and infection
control variables.
Results: SARS-CoV-2 infection was found in 16.32% of HCWs. Nearly 45% of infected HCWs were asymptomatic.
The proportions of sanitation workers (24% vs 8%; p<0.0001) and technicians (10% vs 4%; p=0.0002) were
higher and that of doctors was lower among cases as compared with controls (23% vs 43%; p<0.0001). On univariate analysis, the type of HCW, smoking, lack of training, inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) use
and taking no or fewer doses of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were found to be significant. On multivariate analysis,
the type of HCW (risk ratio [RR] 1.67 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.34 to 2.08], p<0.0001), inappropriate PPE use
(RR 0.63 [95% CI 0.44 to 0.89], p=0.01) and taking fewer doses of HCQ (RR 0.92 [95% CI 0.86 to 0.99], p=0.03)
were significant.
Conclusions: The frequency of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 16% among HCWs. Being a sanitation worker, inappropriate PPE use and lack of HCQ prophylaxis predisposed HCWs to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Keywords: COVID-19, HCQ, healthcare worker, hydroxychloroquine, personal protective equipment, PPE, SARS-CoV-2 infection
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