Abstract: iew ed Seroprevalence of COVID-19 amongst health care workers in a tertiary care hospital of a metropolitan city from India Mahesh Kumar Goenka DM,* Director and head, Institute of Gastrosciences and Liver, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India Shivaraj Afzalpurkar MD, Registrar, Institute of Gastrosciences and Liver, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India Usha Goenka MD, Director and head, Department of Clinical Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India pe er re v Sudipta Sekhar Das MD, Senior consultant and head, Department of transfusion medicine, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India Mohuya Mukherjee MSc, Clinical data analyst, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India Surabhi Jajodia MD, Consultant, Department of Clinical Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India Bhavik Bharat Shah DNB, Consultant, Institute of Gastrosciences and Liver, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India Vikram Uttam Patil DNB, Registrar, Institute of Gastrosciences and Liver, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India Gajanan Rodge DNB, Registrar, Institute of Gastrosciences and Liver, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India ot Ujjwayini Khan MD, Consultant, Department of Microbiology, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India *Corresponding tn Syamasis Bandyopadhyay MD, Senior Consultant, Department of Internal Medicine, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, India author Pr ep rin Dr. Mahesh Kumar Goenka, Institute of Gastrosciences and Liver, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals Limited, 58, Canal Circular Road, Kolkata, India Email id- mkgkolkata@gmail.com This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3689618 iew ed Seroprevalence of COVID-19 amongst health care workers in a tertiary care hospital of a metropolitan city from India Abstract Background Seroprevalence studies for COVID-19 evaluate the extent of undetected transmission in a defined community, with special significance among health care workers (HCW) owing to their greater exposure and potential to transmit. pe er re v Methods A total of 1122 HCW (approximately 25% of the employees) of a large tertiary care hospital in India were recruited for this cross-sectional study. COVID PCR-positive HCW were excluded. Based on their risk-assessment, participants were grouped into three categories. A questionnaire was administered and they were tested for SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies using the chemiluminescence. ot Findings The overall seroprevalence among workers was 11.94%, which included 19.85% in COVID units, 11.09% in non-COVID units, and 8% in administrative workers (p=0.007). Antibody prevalence was highest in the department of gastroenterology (11.94%), followed by oncology (10.53%), pathology (10.26%), emergency medicine (7.84%) and critical care medicine (7%). Housekeeping staff, food and beverage staff, lab assistants and technicians had higher seroprevalence rate than doctors and nurses (p < 0.0001). HCW with a history of BCG vaccination in childhood and those who received an adequate prophylactic dose of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) had a lower seroprevalence as compared to those who did not (7.31% vs. 16.8% and 1.30% vs. 11.25% respectively). tn Interpretation BCG vaccination, HCQ prophylaxis, and the job profile influence the seroprevalence rate in HCW. Seroprevalence rate and follow-up evaluation of its..