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

Arvind Kumar Singh; Manoj Kumar Panigrahi; Somen Kumar Pradhan; Debkumar Pal; Sonu H Subba; Binod Kumar Patro; Binod Kumar Behera; Baijayantimala Mishra; Bijayini Behera; Prasanta Raghab Mohapatra; Sourin Bhuniya; Shakti Kumar Bal; Saurav Sarkar; Jawahar S K Pillai; Sachidananda Mohanty; Batmanabane Gitanjali; AIIMS Bhubaneswar COVID-19 Study Group

doi:10.1080/00185868.2022.2096523

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

Hosp Top. 2022 Jul 19:1-12. doi: 10.1080/00185868.2022.2096523. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Arvind Kumar Singh¹, Manoj Kumar Panigrahi², Somen Kumar Pradhan¹, Debkumar Pal¹, Sonu H Subba¹, Binod Kumar Patro¹, Binod Kumar Behera¹, Baijayantimala Mishra³, Bijayini Behera³, Prasanta Raghab Mohapatra², Sourin Bhuniya², Shakti Kumar Bal², Saurav Sarkar⁴, Jawahar S K Pillai⁵, Sachidananda Mohanty⁶, Batmanabane Gitanjali⁶; AIIMS Bhubaneswar COVID-19 Study Group

Affiliations

¹ Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India.
² Department of Pulmonary Medicine & Critical Care, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India.
³ Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India.
⁴ Department of Ear Nose Throat, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India.
⁵ Department of Hospital Administration, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India.
⁶ All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India.

PMID: 35852422
DOI: 10.1080/00185868.2022.2096523

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; hospital; pandemic.