Assessment of potential risk factors for COVID-19 among health care workers in a health care setting in Delhi, India -a cohort study
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Abstract
Healthcare workers (HCW) are most vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 infection. Understanding the extent of human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 infection among HCWs is critical in managing this infection and for policy making. We did this study to estimate new infection by seroconversion among HCWs in recent contact with COVID-19 and predict the risk factors for infection.
Methods
A cohort study was conducted at a tertiary care COVID-19 hospital in New Delhi during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. All HCWs working in the hospital during the study period who came in recent contact with the patients were our study population. The data was collected by a detailed face-to-face interview, serological assessment for anti- COVID-19 antibodies at baseline and end line, and daily symptoms. Potential risk factors for seroprevalence and seroconversion were analyzed by logistic regression keeping the significance at p<0.05.
Results
A total of 192 HCWs were recruited in this study, out of which 119 (62.0%) were seropositive. Almost all were wearing Personal protective equipment (PPE) and following Infection prevention and control (IPC) measures during their recent contact with a COVID-19 patient. Seroconversion was observed among 36.7% of HCWs, while 64.0% had a serial rise in the titer of antibodies during the follow-up period. Seropositivity was negatively associated with being a doctor (odds ratio [OR] 0.35, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.18–0.71), having COVID-19 symptoms (OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.05–0.82), having comorbidities (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.03–0.67), and received IPC training (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07–0.86), while positively associated with partial (OR 3.30, 95% CI 1.26–8.69), as well as complete vaccination for COVID-19 (OR 2.43, 95% CI 1.12–5.27). Seroconversion was positively associated with doctor as a profession (OR 13.04, 95% CI 3.39–50.25) and with partially (OR 4.35, 95% CI 1.07–17.65), as well as fully vaccinated for COVID-19 (OR 6.08, 95% CI 1.73–21.4). No significant association was observed between adherence to any IPC measures and PPE adopted by the HCW during the recent contact with COVID-19 patients and seroconversion.
Conclusion
Almost all the HCW practiced IPC measures in these settings. High seropositivity and seroconversion are most likely due to concurrent vaccination against COVID-19 rather than recent exposure to COVID-19 patients. Further studies using anti-N antibodies serology may help us find the reason for the seropositivity and seroconversion among HCWs.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2022.02.28.22271674: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Consent: If they agreed to be a part of the study, then written informed consent was obtained. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources SEROCONVERSION: Study participants who were negative (A / C.O. < 1) for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detected with WANTAI SARS-CoV-2 Ab ELISA at baseline but became positive (A / C.O. >1) in the end line serum sample collected between 22-28 day. SARS-CoV-2suggested: NoneAnti-SARS-CoV-2-total antibody detection: Wantai SARS-CoV-2-Ab ELISA kit detects total antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 virus and is based on the principle of two-step incubation … SciScore for 10.1101/2022.02.28.22271674: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Consent: If they agreed to be a part of the study, then written informed consent was obtained. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Antibodies Sentences Resources SEROCONVERSION: Study participants who were negative (A / C.O. < 1) for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detected with WANTAI SARS-CoV-2 Ab ELISA at baseline but became positive (A / C.O. >1) in the end line serum sample collected between 22-28 day. SARS-CoV-2suggested: NoneAnti-SARS-CoV-2-total antibody detection: Wantai SARS-CoV-2-Ab ELISA kit detects total antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 virus and is based on the principle of two-step incubation antigen “sandwich” enzyme immunoassay. Anti-SARS-CoV-2-totalsuggested: NoneSoftware and Algorithms Sentences Resources (Figure 1) All HCW recruited into the study completed a researcher-administered, translated, questionnaire at baseline which covered: The completed questionnaire was entered in Microsoft excel sheet and checked by a supervisor against the hard copy for accuracy of data entry. Microsoft excelsuggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your data.
Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.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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