scholarly journals Risk Factors for SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity in a Health Care Worker Population

Author(s):  
Sebastian D. Schubl ◽  
Cesar Figueroa ◽  
Anton M. Palma ◽  
Rafael R. de Assis ◽  
Aarti Jain ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundProtecting health care workers (HCWs) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is essential. Serologic testing can identify HCWs who had minimally symptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections that were missed by occupational screening based on daily symptom and temperature checks. Recent studies report conflicting results regarding the impact of occupational factors on SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity amongst HCWs.MethodsThe study population included all hospital workers at an academic medical center in Orange County, California. SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity was assessed from a fingerstick blood specimen using a coronavirus antigen microarray, which compares IgM and IgG antibodies against a panel of SARS-CoV-2 antigens with positive and negative controls to identify prior SARS-CoV-2 infection with 98% specificity and 93% sensitivity. Demographic, occupational, and clinical factors were surveyed and their effect on seropositivity estimated using multivariable logistic regression analysis.ResultsAmongst 1,557 HCWs with complete data, SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity was 10.8%. Risk factors for increased seropositivity included male gender, exposure to COVID-19 outside of work, working in food or environmental services, and working in COVID-19 units. Amongst the 1,103 HCW who were seropositive but missed by occupational screening, additional risk factors included younger age and working in administration.ConclusionsSARS-CoV-2 seropositivity is significantly higher than reported case counts even amongst HCWs who are meticulously screened. Seropositive HCWs missed by occupational screening were more likely to be younger, work roles without direct patient care, or have COVID-19 exposure outside of work.Key PointsSARS-CoV-2 seropositivity risk factors amongst health care workers included male gender, nonoccupational exposure, food or environmental services role, and COVID-19 unit location. Those missed by occupational screening were younger, in roles without direct patient care, or exposed outside of work.

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A252-A253
Author(s):  
William McCall ◽  
Demetra Mensah-Bonsu ◽  
Allison Withers ◽  
Robert Gibson

Abstract Introduction Pandemics such as COVID-19 create population-wide stressors that create a natural laboratory for acute insomnia research. This study investigated risk factors and estimated rates of acute insomnia disorder in health care workers at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A Qualtrics survey of more than 2300 health care providers was conducted in a single academic health system on May 15th 2020, comprised of practicing attending physicians, residents and fellows in training, advanced practice providers, and nurses. Six hundred and sixty eight responded (29% response rate). The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Insomnia Disorder was used to diagnose Acute Insomnia Disorder. Results 573 respondent had no missing data pertaining to sleep, with a mean age of 43.4 + 12.5 years and 72% women. The rate of Insomnia Disorder before COVID-19 was 44.5%, while after COVID-19 it was 64.0% - a statistically significant increase. 10.2% of persons with Insomnia Disorder before COVID-19 stated it had resolved during COVID-19, while 43.4% of persons who did not have Insomnia Disorder before COVID-19 developed Acute Insomnia Disorder during COVID-19 (χ2=145.2; df=1; P<0.0001). New cases of Acute Insomnia Disorder increased with female gender, advancing age, and less time spent in direct patient care. Conclusion Insomnia Disorder showed high baseline prevalence before COVID-19, followed by a striking increase in incidence in this sample of tertiary care health care workers. The effects of gender and age were similar to what has been previously published as risk factors for insomnia. The surprising finding that less time spent in direct patient care was associated with more cases of Acute Insomnia Disorder might be related to the poorly understood stresses of working from home during COVID-19. Support (if any):


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 550-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalal Alromaihi ◽  
Amanda Godfrey ◽  
Tina Dimoski ◽  
Paul Gunnels ◽  
Eric Scher ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Multiple factors affect residency education, including duty-hour restrictions and documentation requirements for regulatory compliance. We designed a work sampling study to determine the proportion of time residents spend in structured education, direct patient care, indirect patient care that must be completed by a physician, indirect patient care that may be delegated to other health care workers, and personal activities while on an inpatient general practice unit. Methods The 3-month study in 2009 involved 14 categorical internal medicine residents who volunteered to use personal digital assistants to self-report their location and primary tasks while on an inpatient general practice unit. Results Residents reported spending most of their time at workstations (43%) and less time in patient rooms (20%). By task, residents spent 39% of time on indirect patient care that must be completed by a physician, 31% on structured education, 17% on direct patient care, 9% on indirect patient care that may be delegated to other health care workers, and 4% on personal activities. From these data we estimated that residents spend 34 minutes per patient per day completing indirect patient care tasks compared with 15 minutes per patient per day in direct patient care. Conclusions This single-institution time study objectively quantified a current state of how and where internal medicine residents spend their time while on a general practice unit, showing that residents overall spend less time on direct patient care compared with other activities.


2010 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 555-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Wang ◽  
Jianxin Zhang ◽  
Mingjie Zhou ◽  
Zhanbiao Shi ◽  
Ping Liu

The symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and associated risk factors were investigated among health care workers in earthquake-affected areas in southwest China. 343 health care workers completed the Chinese version of the Impact of Event Scale–Revised 3 mo. after the Wenchuan Earthquake. The prevalence of probable PTSD was 19%. The significant risk factors identified for PTSD severity included being female, being bereaved, being injured, and higher intensity of initial fear. These findings suggest that PTSD is a common mental health problem among health care workers in earthquake-affected areas. The present information can be useful in directing, strengthening, and evaluating disaster-related mental health needs and interventions after an earthquake.


Author(s):  
Firdous Hussain ◽  
Ruby Khatoon ◽  
Beena Sachan ◽  
J. P. Srivastava

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are at risk of various occupational hazards in the hospital, including exposure to bloodborne infections such as HIV and hepatitis B and C virus (HBV and HCV) infection from sharps injuries and contact with body fluids. All health care workers should routinely use appropriate barrier precautions to prevent skin and mucous membrane exposure during contact with any patient's blood or body fluids that require universal precautions. The objective of the study was to evaluate both the knowledge and the practice of standard precautions by nursing   students in the teaching hospital.Methods: It is a cross sectional study conducted in Era’s Lucknow Medical College and Hospital over a period of two months from November 2014 to December 2014 on nursing students. 100 nursing students were included in this study. All the nurses had been professionally active for 1 year or more in direct patient care and hospital hygiene.Results: Most of the nursing students were aware of the concept of universal precaution. 97% of nursing students used to wash their hands before and after patient care. In reasons for use of universal precaution it was found that100% of nursing student said use of universal precaution is to protect health care worker. While 100% said it protects HCW while handling infectious waste. Nursing students knowledge regarding indications of hand hygiene was found 97.Conclusions: The findings of this study highlight the need to implement a programme to improve knowledge on standard precautions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (7) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
S. JAYARAMAN ◽  
R. Sindhya ◽  
P. Vijiyalakshmi

this research aims to find out the intensity of Employee Engagement of the health care sector workers and the relationship between the Work life factors and Employee Engagement of Health care sector workers in Dindigul District. Primary data were used in this research, were collected from 298 Health care workers from Dindigul District. Questionnaire was the major tool used to gather the primary data from the selected sample respondents. For this purpose, a well structured questionnaire was constructed with the help of professionals and the practiced employees of various health care units in Dindigul District. The health care employees were chosen by simple random sampling method. The investigative measures of regression Path analysis, and simple percentage analysis were utilized to find the impact of work life related factors with the Employee Engagement. The maximum Health care workers were generally satisfied with their jobs. The analytical procedure of path analysis multiple regressions was utilized to determine the predicting strength among Work life factors and the employee engagement. This study provides an another view about the importance of Work life factors and Employee engagement for organizational effectiveness and performance .


Author(s):  
Hasan S. Alamri ◽  
Wesam F. Mousa ◽  
Abdullah Algarni ◽  
Shehata F. Megahid ◽  
Ali Al Bshabshe ◽  
...  

Objective: Little is known about the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) among the health care workers in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 among the health care workers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May till mid-July among 389 health care workers from government and private hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected using a pre-structured online questionnaire that measured adverse psychological outcomes, including the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale. The Pearson chi-square test was used to assess the distribution of depression and anxiety among health care workers. Results: A high level of anxiety was recorded among the health care workers, and 69.3% of health care workers below the age of 40 were found to have depression. There was a significant increase in depression among staff with chronic health problems (72.1% vs. 61.9%; p = 0.048). High anxiety levels were detected among young staff compared to others (68.7% vs. 43.8%; p = 0.001). Moreover, 82.1% of the female staff were anxious, as compared to 55.6% of the males (p = 0.001). Conclusions: We found increased prevalence of adverse psychological outcomes among the health care workers in Saudi Arabia during the outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, there is a need for proper screening and development of corresponding preventive measures to decrease the adverse psychological outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuli Song ◽  
Yongjie Zhou ◽  
Wenwang Rao ◽  
Xiangyang Zhang

Abstract Background This study aimed to compare prevalence and risk factors of somatization (SOM) between health care workers and non-health care workers during COVID-19 outbreak in China. Methods From 14 February to 29 March 2020, an online survey was performed in both 605 health care workers and 1151 non-health care workers. Based on the somatization dimension score of the Symptom Checklist-90, participants were divided into non-SOM group and SOM group. Results Health care workers had higher prevalence rate of SOM (p < 0.001) than non-health care workers, with an OR of 1.70 (95% CI, 1.22–2.36, p = 0.002). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that in non-health care workers, the risk factors of SOM included other ethnicities, insomnia, and suicide, while in health care workers, the risk factors included working 6–8 h per day, and working ≥10 h per day during COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusions Our research suggests that both non-health care workers and health care workers have a relatively high prevalence of somatization. However, the related factors for somatization in both groups are significantly different, showing that medical service-related factors are associated with somatization in health care workers, while demographic and clinical factors are associated with somatization in non-health care workers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S297-S297
Author(s):  
Eric G Meissner ◽  
Christine Litwin ◽  
Tricia Crocker ◽  
Elizabeth Mack ◽  
Lauren Card

Abstract Background Health care workers are at significant risk for infection with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Methods We utilized a point-of-care, lateral flow SARS-CoV-2 IgG immunoassay (RayBiotech) to conduct a seroprevalence study in a cohort of at-risk health care workers (n=339) and normal-risk controls (n=100) employed at an academic medical center. To minimize exposure risk while conducting the study, consents were performed electronically, tests were mailed and then self-administered at home using finger stick blood, and subjects uploaded a picture of the test result while answering an electronic questionnaire. We also validated the assay using de-identified serum samples from patients with PCR-proven SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results Between April 14th and May 6th 2020, 439 subjects were enrolled. Subjects were 68% female, 93% white, and most were physicians (38%) and nurses (27%). In addition, 37% had at least 1 respiratory symptom in the prior month, 34% had cared for a patient with known SARS-CoV-2 infection, 57% and 23% were worried about exposure at work or in the community, respectively, and 5 reported prior documented SARS-CoV-2 infection. On initial testing, 3 subjects had a positive IgG test, 336 had a negative test, and 87 had an inconclusive result. Of those with an inconclusive result who conducted a repeat test (85%), 96% had a negative result. All 3 positive IgG tests were in subjects reporting prior documented infection. Laboratory validation showed that of those with PCR-proven infection more than 13 days prior, 23/30 were IgG positive (76% sensitivity), whereas 1/26 with a negative prior PCR test were seropositive (95% specificity). Repeat longitudinal serologic testing every 30 days for up to 4 times is currently in progress. Conclusion We conducted a contact-free study in the setting of a pandemic to assess SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in an at-risk group of health care workers. The only subjects found to be IgG positive were those with prior documented infection, even though a substantial proportion of subjects reported significant potential occupational or community exposure and symptoms that were potentially compatible with SARS-COV-2 infection. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures


2000 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 84-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.R. McEwan ◽  
N.G. Dewhurst ◽  
F. Daly ◽  
C.D. Forbes ◽  
J.J.F. Belch

Summary analyses of screening data were used to ascertain the cardiovascular risk profile in a sample of health care workers in Scotland. A sample of NHS staff (298 women and 78 men) were screened during visits to Perth Royal Infirmary (PRI) in 1996 and 1997. Comparisons were made within subsets and with previous screening studies. Health care workers have been a neglected component of the workforce for receiving education about risk factors. The high prevalence of smokers found in this sample should be a cause for concern.


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