Clinico-Epidemiological Characteristics of Healthcare Workers with SARS-CoV-2 Infection during the First and Second Waves in a Teaching Hospital from Eastern India: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

In this retrospective observational study, we have performed a comparative analysis of the demographic, clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the HCWs affected with SARS-CoV-2 infection during first two waves in India. The overall prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCWs was found to be 15.24% (14.20–16.33) and 23.38% (22.14–25.65) during first and second waves respectively. The second wave showed an adjusted odds ratio of 0.04(0.02–0.07) and 2.09(1.49–2.93) for hospitalization and being symptomatic, respectively. We detected significantly higher level of C-reactive protein (CRP) among admitted HCWs during the second wave (5.10 –14.60 mg/dl) as compared to the first wave (2.00 – 2.80 mg/dl). Our study found the relative risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among HCWs during the second wave to be 0.68 [0.57–0.82, p < 0.001)]. Although, the prevalence of SARS CoV-2 infection and risk of being symptomatic was higher during second wave, the risk of hospitalization was less when compared with the first wave.

Keywords:

• Health care worker
• SARS CoV-2
• pandemic
• hospital

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the staffs of SARS-CoV-2 screening OPD, Microbiology Laboratory and SARS-CoV-2 wards for their contribution to the collection of the data used for this study.

AIIMS Bhubaneswar COVID-19 Study group

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India: Abhisek Mishra, Akshatha R., Akshaya R., Alekhya G., Ambarish Das, Ananda Datta, Annu Antony, Aravinda C., Arjun M. C., Ashoka Mahapatra, Ashutosh Panda, Aswathy Girija, Bimal Kumar Sahoo, Debopam Chatterjee, Dinesh Prasad Sahu, Durgesh Prasad Sahoo, Gopal Durgeshwar, Jai Ranjan, Jyolsna Nair S., Kajal Das, Kavi Nila Retina David, Kumbha Gopi, Manish Taywade, Mantha Satya Padmaja, Monalisa Mohanty, Palanisamy Venkatachalam, Poesy Payal, Pradnya Dilip Chandanshive, Prajna Paramita Giri, Prashanth Purushotham, Premsagar Panda, Priyamadhab Behera, Priyadharshani A., Punyatoya Kar, Raja Manohar Acharyulu V., Ravikumar S. R., Raviraj Kamble, Reetika Biswas, Rohit Bicaro Shirgaonkar, Santosh Pentapati, Shivya T, Snehapriya S., Srikanth Goud M., Srujana Mohanty, Subhakanta Sahu, Subho Sarkar, Sudip Ghosh, Susmita Dora, Sutapa Rath, Swarnatrisha Saha, Swayam P. Parida, Varsha Rajan, Vinay Kumar Hallur.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributor

AKS, MKP and SKP, DKP contributed to development of concept, literature search and design of the study. All the authors participated in data acquisition. SKP, DKP did data analysis of the study. AKS and SKP prepared the initial manuscript. All the authors participated in manuscript editing and review.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar. (IEC No: T/IM-NF/CM & FM/20/154)

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author with the permission of the AIIMS Bhubaneswar COVID-19 Study group.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.