A Case-Control Study of Factors Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Healthcare Workers in Colombia.

Abstract

Background: Healthcare Workers (HCW) are repeatedly exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCW in one of the largest cities in Colombia. Methods: We conducted a case-control study, where cases had a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and controls had a negative result. Participants were randomly selected and interviewed by phone. Analyses were performed using logistic regression models. Results: A total of 110 cases and 113 controls were included. Men (AdjOR 4.1 95%CI 1.7-10), Nurses (AdjOR 11.2 95%CI 1.1-119.6), not using a high-performance filtering mask (AdjOR 2.2 95%CI 1-5.1) and inadequate use of personal protective equipment (AdjOR 4.8 95%CI 1.1-19.6) were identified as risk factors. Conversely, graduate (AdjOR 0.1 95%CI 0.01-0.5) and postgraduate (AdjOR 0.05 95%CI 0.004-0.5) education, feeling scared or nervous (AdjOR 0.5 95%CI0.2-0.9), not wearing any of gloves, hat and googles/face shields (AdjOR 0.1 95%CI0.02-0.4), and the use of high-performance filtering or a combination of fabric plus surgical mask (AdjOR 0.2 95%CI 0.1-0.8) outside the workplace were protective factors. Conclusion: This study highlights the protection provided by high-performance filtering mask or double masking among HCW. Individual factors and the difficulties of wearing other protective equipment needs to be considered in designing, implementing and monitoring COVID-19 biosafety protocols for HCW.

Cumulative incidence, prevalence, seroconversion, and associated factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers of a University Hospital in Bogotá, Colombia

“…We explored the occupation of HCWs as a possible risk factor associated with SARS-CoV-2. In our study, being a nurse increased the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection by 20% compared with being an administrative HCWs, which is consistent with the results of studies in different countries [ 32 – 34 ]. We found a lower risk of infection in physicians than in administrative HCWs, which is unusual from the trend in the literature [ 35 ].…”

“…We observed a reduction in the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the HCWs who used N-95 respirators compared with the risk in those who used surgical or cloth masks, which has been reported previously [ 32 , 43 ]. In addition, recent research regarding airborne transmission suggests that N95 respirators may be preferable for all HCWs activities [ 44 ].…”

Effect of Clustering Nursing Care on Spreading COVID-19 Infection Among Nurses: A Retrospective Study

“…Meanwhile, inconsistent with the study performed by Atnafie et al, 2021 24 who reported that age between 25 and 34 years (AOR = 0.20), age between 35 and 44 years (AOR = 0.13), family size of >6 (AOR = 3.77), and work experience of 21-30 years (AOR = 0.01) were the protective factors against COVID-19. Meanwhile, Rodriguez-Lopez et al, 2021 18 detected those men (AdjOR 4.13, 95% CI 1.70-10.05) and nurses (AdjOR 11.24, 95% CI 1.05-119.63) were identified as risk factors for infection among health workers.…”

“…Participants: The size of the sample was computed with a confidence rate of 95%, power 0.8, the odds ratio was 11.24, 18 and the expected proportion in controls was 0.01. Ten percent of the non-response rate was added, and the minimum sample size per group was 97 nurses.…”

Effectiveness of face masks for reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2: a rapid systematic review

“…Nineteen studies compared the effectiveness of different types of masks for reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2: four studies (two RCTs, two observational) in community settings [14,16,23,47] and 15 studies (one RCT, 14 observational) in healthcare settings [50,52,57,68,[70][71][72][73][74]78,80,[82][83][84]88].…”