BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a huge challenge to healthcare systems and their personnel worldwide. The study of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers (HCW), through prevalence studies, will let us know viral expansion, individuals at most risk and the most exposed areas in healthcare organizations. The aim of this study is to gauge the impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in our hospital workforce and identify groups and areas at increased risk. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This is a cross-sectional and incidence study carried out on healthcare workers based on molecular and serological diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of the 3013 HCW invited to participate, 2439 (80.9%) were recruited, including 674 (22.4%) who had previously consulted at the Occupational Health Service (OHS) for confirmed exposure and/or presenting symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. A total of 411 (16.9%) and 264 (10.8%) healthcare workers were SARS-CoV-2 IgG and rRT-PCR positive, respectively. The cumulative prevalence considering all studies (IgG positive HCW and/or rRT-PCR positive detection) was 485 (19.9%). SARS-CoV-2 IgG-positive patients in whom the virus was not detected were 221 (9.1%); up to 151 of them (68.3%) did not report any compatible symptoms nor consult at the OHS for this reason. Men became more infected than women (25% vs 18.5%, p = 0.0009), including when data were also classified by age. COVID-19 cumulative prevalence among the HCW assigned to medical departments was higher (25.2%) than others, as well as among medical staff (25.4%) compared with other professional categories (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HCW of our centre has been 19.9%. Doctors and medical services personnel have had the highest prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but many of them have not presented compatible symptoms. This emphasizes the performance of continuous surveillance methods of the most exposed health personnel and not only based on the appearance of symptoms.
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a huge challenge to healthcare systems and their personnel worldwide. The study of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers (HCW), through prevalence studies, will let us know viral expansion, individuals at most risk and the most exposed areas in healthcare organizations. The aim of this study is to gauge the impact of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in our hospital workforce and identify groups and areas at increased risk. METHODS AND FINDINGS: This is a cross-sectional and incidence study carried out on healthcare workers based on molecular and serological diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of the 3013 HCW invited to participate, 2439 (80.9%) were recruited, including 674 (22.4%) who had previously consulted at the Occupational Health Service (OHS) for confirmed exposure and/or presenting symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. A total of 411 (16.9%) and 264 (10.8%) healthcare workers were SARS-CoV-2 IgG and rRT-PCR positive, respectively. The cumulative prevalence considering all studies (IgG positive HCW and/or rRT-PCR positive detection) was 485 (19.9%). SARS-CoV-2 IgG-positive patients in whom the virus was not detected were 221 (9.1%); up to 151 of them (68.3%) did not report any compatible symptoms nor consult at the OHS for this reason. Men became more infected than women (25% vs 18.5%, p = 0.0009), including when data were also classified by age. COVID-19 cumulative prevalence among the HCW assigned to medical departments was higher (25.2%) than others, as well as among medical staff (25.4%) compared with other professional categories (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HCW of our centre has been 19.9%. Doctors and medical services personnel have had the highest prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but many of them have not presented compatible symptoms. This emphasizes the performance of continuous surveillance methods of the most exposed health personnel and not only based on the appearance of symptoms.
Authors: Nallely Bueno-Hernández; José Damian Carrillo-Ruíz; Lucía A Méndez-García; Salma A Rizo-Téllez; Rebeca Viurcos-Sanabria; Alisson Santoyo-Chávez; René Márquez-Franco; Alejandro Aguado-García; Neyla Baltazar-López; Yoshio Tomita-Cruz; Eira Valeria Barrón; Ana Laura Sánchez; Edna Márquez; Ruben Fossion; Ana Leonor Rivera; Luis Ruelas; Octavio A Lecona; Gustavo Martínez-Mekler; Markus Müller; América G Arroyo-Valerio; Galileo Escobedo Journal: Healthcare (Basel) Date: 2022-05-12
Authors: Steven He; Anthony Hecimovic; Vesna Matijasevic; Ha Thi Mai; Linda Heslop; Jann Foster; Kate E Alexander; Naru Pal; Evan Alexandrou; Patricia M Davidson; Steven A Frost Journal: J Clin Nurs Date: 2021-09-27 Impact factor: 4.423
Authors: María Luisa Delgado-Losada; Jaime Bouhaben; Claudia Ruiz-Huerta; Marcelle V Canto; Alice Helena Delgado-Lima Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-05-09 Impact factor: 4.614
Authors: Kenan Rodríguez de Limia Ramírez; Nicolás Ruiz-Robledillo; José Luis Duro-Torrijos; Vicente García-Román; Natalia Albaladejo-Blázquez; Rosario Ferrer-Cascales Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-12-22 Impact factor: 3.390
Authors: Mary Eyram Ashinyo; Stephen Dajaan Dubik; Vida Duti; Kingsley Ebenezer Amegah; Anthony Ashinyo; Brian Adu Asare; Angela Ama Ackon; Samuel Kaba Akoriyea; Patrick Kuma-Aboagye Journal: PLoS One Date: 2021-03-09 Impact factor: 3.240