Clinical characteristics of 132 healthcare worker cases with COVID-19: A retrospective study from a single center in Wuhan, China

J Med Virol. 2021 Mar;93(3):1631-1638. doi: 10.1002/jmv.26511. Epub 2020 Sep 28.

Abstract

Many healthcare workers (HCWs) have been confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 in China. A retrospective, single-center study was conducted. The median age of the 132 HCWs with COVID-19 was 32 years, with 92 (69.7%) being females. There were 47 (35.6%) doctors, 72 (54.6%) nurses, and 13 (9.9%) other HCWs. Ten of the 132 patients (7.6%) had underlying diseases. The most common symptoms of illness onset were fever (70, 53.0%), cough (66, 50.0%), and fatigue (58, 43.9%). All patients were categorized into mild or moderate COVID-19 type on admission to hospital, and five (3.8%) progressed to the severe COVID-19 type. Sixty-six HCWs patients were included in both the early and later discharged group. In the logistic analysis, the later discharged patients had a longer time for illness onset to hospital admission (per 1 day; OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.03-1.18; p = .006), a higher proportion of >3 onset symptoms clustering (OR, 3.11; 95% CI, 1.27-7.62; p = .01), and a higher percentage of other HCWs (OR, 6.20; 95% CI, 1.49-25.80; p = .01). HCW patients were young female nurses with fewer comorbidities, and most were mild or moderate COVID-19 type. The later discharged patients exhibited characteristics of longer time for illness onset to hospitalization and clustering of onset symptoms.

Keywords: COVID-19; clinical characteristics; healthcare workers; hospital stay time.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • COVID-19 / epidemiology*
  • COVID-19 / pathology*
  • COVID-19 / virology
  • China / epidemiology
  • Comorbidity
  • Cough / epidemiology
  • Cough / pathology
  • Cough / virology
  • Female
  • Fever / epidemiology
  • Fever / pathology
  • Fever / virology
  • Health Personnel / statistics & numerical data*
  • Hospitalization / statistics & numerical data
  • Hospitals / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Patient Discharge / statistics & numerical data
  • Retrospective Studies
  • SARS-CoV-2 / pathogenicity