Impact of social contacts on SARS-CoV-2 exposure among healthcare workers
Occupational Medicine, cilt.72, sa.1, ss.10-16, 2022 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 72 Sayı: 1
- Basım Tarihi: 2022
- Doi Numarası: 10.1093/occmed/kqab141
- Dergi Adı: Occupational Medicine
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, PASCAL, CAB Abstracts, EMBASE, Environment Index, Index Islamicus, MEDLINE, Pollution Abstracts, Psycinfo, Veterinary Science Database
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.10-16
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Contact tracing, COVID-19, healthcare worker, occupational health, risk assessment, SARS-CoV-2
- Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır
Özet
Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) have an increased risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection due to occupational exposure. Strict measures generally focus on the patient-to-HCW contacts. However, interactions between the HCWs also pose a high risk for SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Aims: This study was aimed to investigate the effect of social contacts on the level of SARS-CoV-2 exposure risk among workers by broadening the current risk assessment algorithm. Methods: Contact tracing records of the workers in a large university hospital between 19th March and 31st December 2020 were analysed. Multivariate conditional logistic regression models were estimated to evaluate factors associated with high-risk exposure for contacts among workers. Results: Of the 329 exposed clusters, 260 (79%) were HCW-to-HCW contacted clusters. High-risk exposure was higher in the HCW-to-HCW contacts (44%), when compared to the patient-to-HCW contacts (5%) (P < 0.001). A total of 1827 HCWs contacted a laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-positive co-worker. Among the HCW-to-HCW contacts, high-risk exposure was higher in the support staff (49%, P < 0.001), in non-patient care settings (47%, P < 0.001) and in the social contacts (57%, P < 0.001). Social contacts between workers increased the high-risk exposure (adjusted odds ratio: 3.50, 95% confidence interval 2.62-4.69) in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: A significant association between social contacts among workers and high-risk exposure of SARS-CoV-2 was observed. The results of the study emphasize the need for policies regarding the improved protection of HCWs in social settings in addition to patient care services.