Noncommunicable diseases risk factors and the risk of COVID-19 among university employees in Indonesia

  1. Indah Suci Widyahening
  2. Dhanasari Vidiawati
  3. Trevino A. Pakasi
  4. Pradana Soewondo
  5. Abdillah Ahsan

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Abstract

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are still a major public health problem in Indonesia. Studies have shown that risk factors of NCDs are associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity and mortality. However, it is unclear whether NCD risk factors are also risks for new COVID-19 cases. This study aimed to obtain an NCD risk profile among university employees and its associations with contracting COVID-19.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2021. Participants were administrative employees of Universitas Indonesia (UI), Depok City, West Java. Assessment of NCD risk factors was based on the World Health Organization STEPwise approach to NCD risk factor surveillance (WHO STEPS). Demographic, working, and medical-history data were obtained electronically by using a Google Form. Physical and laboratory examinations were done in the Integrated Post for NCDs. Risks were expressed as adjusted odds ratio (OR adj ) and 95% confidence interval (CI) in multivariate analyses.

Results

A total of 613 employees were enrolled. Men were predominant (54.8%), and about 36% of them work in shift as security personnel. About 66.7% were overweight or obese and 77.8% had hypertension. There were 138 (22.8%) employees who had COVID-19. Nearly all (95.6%) had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. At-risk waist circumference (OR adj 1.72, 95% CI 1.15–2.56, p = 0.008) and total cholesterol level of 200–239 mg/dL (OR adj 2.30, 95% CI 1.19–4.44, p = 0.013) were independent risk factors, but shift work (OR adj 0.52, 95% CI 0.34–0.80, p = 0.003) was protective against COVID-19.

Conclusion

The prevalence of NCD risk factors among university administrative employees was high, increasing the risk of contracting COVID-19. A behavioral intervention program to manage NCD risk factors at the university level is urgently needed according to the Health Promoting University framework.

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  1. Version published to 10.1371/journal.pone.0263146
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.01.17.22269249: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsConsent: Participants were enrolled in this study if they agree to give written consent.
    IRB: Ethics approval was granted from the Health Research Ethic Committee of the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia – Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (No.
    Sex as a biological variableAt-risk WC was >102 cm for men and >88 cm for women.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power AnalysisThis post was a community-based program oriented towards promotive and preventive efforts to control NCDs.[10] Sample size was calculated using the formula for a prevalence study with the confidence level of 0.05 and a precision of 5%.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    All statistical analyses were done using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    For instance, a study in UK found that shift work was associated with increased risk of COVID-19.[34] More detail analyses showed that shift work was associated with a higher likelihood of COVID-19 for both irregular (OR 2.42; 95% CI 1.92–3.05) and permanent shift work (OR 2.50; 95% CI 1.95–3.19).[35] There were several limitations in this study. First, the design was not prospective and included only people who survived COVID-19. Secondly, we cannot differentiate whether the participants had COVID-19 infection before or after vaccination, and most of the employees completed their vaccination about three months before our data collection. Therefore, the effect of the COVID-19 vaccine on the incidence was not known. Universitas Indonesia is one of the most prominent universities in Indonesia, located in an area where the prevalence of NCDs and COVID-19 is the highest in the country. Hence the prevalence of COVID-19 infection and NCD risk factors reported in this study might also be higher than other university employees in Indonesia.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2022.01.17.22269249v1 on medRxiv