Effectiveness of N95 respirators versus surgical masks in protecting health care workers from acute respiratory infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Objectives Health care workers (HCWs) are exposed to needle needles daily. Despite individual studies, there is no statistics on the prevalence of unreported needle stick injuries (NSIs) have been reported. This study was performed to determine the prevalence and causes of unreported NSIs among HCWs. Content In present systematic review and meta-analysis study, three international databases (Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed) were searched from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2018. The random model was used to determine the prevalence of unreported needle stick among HCWs. Summary and outlook Forty-one studies performed on 19,635 health care workers entered the final stage. Based-on random effect model, pooled prevalence of unreported needle stick injuries was 59.9% (95% CI: 52.0, 67.7; I2=98.9%). The most common cause of unreported NSIs was: They were not worried about NSIs (n=12). The high prevalence of unreported needle sticks injuries indicates the urgency and necessity of paying attention to strategies to improve reporting among health workers.

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Consideration for the asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

10.1101/2020.10.06.20207597 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Khaiwal Ravindra ◽

Vivek Singh Malik ◽

Bijaya K Padhi ◽

Sonu Goel ◽

Madhu Gupta

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Health Care ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Chest Ct ◽

Nucleic Acid Testing ◽

Social Distancing ◽

Care Workers ◽

Children Health ◽

Chest Ct Scan

AbstractObjectiveWorldwide countries are experiencing viral load in their population, leading to potential infectivity of asymptomatic COVID-19. Current systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the role of asymptomatic infection worldwide reported in family-cluster, adults, children, health care workers, and travelers.DesignOnline literature search (PubMed, Google Scholar, medRixv, and BioRixv) was accomplished using standard Boolean operators, studies published till 07th June 2020.SettingStudies were included from case reports, short communication, and retrospective to cover sufficient asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission reported.ParticipantsFamilial-clusters, adults, children, health care workers, and travelers.ResultsWe observed asymptomatic transmission among familial-cluster, adults, children, health care workers, and travelers with a proportion of 32% 37%, 26%, 6%, and 32%, respectively. This study observed an overall proportion of 31% (95%CI: 0.19-0.44) with heterogeneity of I2 (97.28%, p=<0.001) among all asymptomatic populations mentioned in this study. Among children and healthcare workers, this study showed no heterogeneity; to overcome the interpretation from a fixed model, the random effect model was also applied to estimate the average distribution across studies included in the meta-analysis.ConclusionWe found and suggest the rigorous epidemiological history, early isolation, social distancing, and increased quarantine period (at least 28 days) after screening asymptomatic cases as well as their close contacts for chest CT scan even after their negative nucleic acid testing to minimize the spread among the community. This systematic review and meta-analysis support asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission between person to person depending on the variation of virus incubation period among individuals. Children especially, school-going aged <18 years, need to be monitored and prevention strategy, e.g., chest CT and social distancing required to prevent the community transmission of COVID-19 in asymptomatic mode.Strengths and limitations of this studyExamine the possibility of asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission in the community at different levels.Supports contact tracing, social distancing, early isolation, and increased quarantine period to minimize the risk of virus spread.Supports chest CT scan and viral nucleic acid testing to identify the asymptomatic cases in the community.Supports rigorous epidemiological history with multiple detection methods.A higher proportion of asymptomatic incidence was seen, suggests monitoring, and maintaining social distancing.

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Reliability of HIV rapid diagnostic tests for self-testing compared with testing by health-care workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The Lancet HIV ◽

10.1016/s2352-3018(18)30044-4 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (6) ◽

pp. e277-e290 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Carmen Figueroa ◽

Cheryl Johnson ◽

Nathan Ford ◽

Anita Sands ◽

Shona Dalal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Health Care ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Diagnostic Tests ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Rapid Diagnostic Tests ◽

Self Testing ◽

Care Workers

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EFFECT OF WEARING DIFFERENT TYPES OF FACE MASKS FOR PROLONGED PERIOD OF TIME ON BREATHLESSNESS & PERCEPTION IN HEALTH CARE WORKERS - AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

International Journal of Advanced Research ◽

10.21474/ijar01/13035 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (06) ◽

pp. 464-475

Author(s):

Rohit Sunil Bhavthankar ◽

◽

Arijit Kumar Das ◽

Abhijit D. Diwate ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Good Choice ◽

The Body ◽

Posterior Aspect ◽

Care Workers ◽

Surgical Masks ◽

Different Types ◽

N95 Respirators ◽

The City

Background- The coronavirus disease, which originated in the city of Wuhan, China, has quickly spread to various countries, with many cases having been reported worldwide. As of May 8th, 2020, in India, 56,342 positive cases have been reported. Masks can help prevent the spread of the virus from the person wearing the mask to others. HCWs need to wear the mask for prolonged period of time as they come in contact with various people and so there are many adverse effects of the mask on the body such as breathlessness etc. Masks include mainly 3 types: N-95 respirators, surgical masks, cloth masks. Methods-The study was conducted at vikhe patil medical hospital and college of Physiotherapy, Ahmednagar.Pre and Post experiences of breathlessness and perception were compared. Result- We have analyzed that N-95 Respirators cause maximum Breathlessness compared to Surgical and cloth masks. In case of feeling stress, N-95 Respirators were the major reason, followed by Surgical Masks.Surgical and N95 Respirators create equal difficulties in communication.Causing pain on posterior aspect of the ear, as well as headache is seen more in N-95 respirators. But while using masks, N-95 has created less agitation compared to Surgical and Cloth Masks. Conclusion- We can conclude that even N-95 is major cause of difficulties, Other masks are creating near about same difficulties but N-95 gives maximum safety. So,preferring N-95 Respirators is a good choice even after having more difficulties.

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The Prevalence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Among Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.658846 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Amir Adibi ◽

Mohamad Golitaleb ◽

Iman Farrahi-Ashtiani ◽

Davoud Pirani ◽

Kosar Yousefi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Health Care ◽

Anxiety Disorder ◽

Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Psychological Problems ◽

Health Staff ◽

Generalized Anxiety ◽

Care Workers

Introduction: Health care workers, due to be involved in caring for COVID-19 patients may experience various psychological problems including anxiety disorders. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic by systematic review and meta-analysis.Methods: The PRISMA guideline was used for conducting this study. Related keywords were searched in credited resources including ISC, Magiran, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane, ProQuest, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and Embase to find the articles published on the prevalence of GAD among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic from the first of January to the end of June 2020. Meta-analysis was conducted by the random effects model.Results: In this study, 553 articles were initially identified, from which 19 studies were finally included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that the prevalence of GAD in health care workers based on the GAD-7 and GAD-2 instruments were 32.04% (95% CI: 26.89–37.19, I2 = 98.2%, p < 0.001) and 22.62% (95% CI: 9.01–36.24, I2 = 97.7%, p < 0.001). The overall prevalence of GAD was obtained 30.5% (95% CI: 25.58–35.42, I2 = 98.4%, p < 0.001).Conclusion: This study showed a relatively high GAD prevalence, as one of the fundamental psychological problems, among health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, health system managers should implement preventive strategies to protect health staff from contracting the virus and monitor them for psychological problems and provide them with supportive measures if necessary.

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