• Mingyang Wu, Cong Xie, Ran Wu, Yanling Shu, Lulin Wang, Mingyan Li, and Youjie Wang.
• Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
• Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2021 Aug 1; 42 (8): 924-930.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Hubei Province, China.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingHubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.ParticipantsThe participants in this study are cases identified by epidemiological investigation in Hubei Province, as of February 27, 2020, and were followed until March 7, 2020. In total, 1,989 HCWs and 41,137 other occupational cases were included for analysis.MethodsWe used descriptive statistics to summarize patient characteristics.ResultsOf 1,989 laboratory-confirmed HCWs, 297 (14.93%) had severe or critical cases, 73 (3.67%) had asymptomatic infections, and 18 died of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The case fatality rate was 0.9%. The proportion of severe or critical cases decreased from the beginning to the end of the outbreak (from 21.29% to 3.52%), and the proportion of asymptomatic cases increased from 0.0% to 47.18%. Nearly half of HCWs with confirmed COVID-19 reported no known contact with COVID-19 patients (969, 48.72%). Fever and cough were the most common symptoms at disease onset in both HCWs and other occupational cases; however, HCWs had higher rates of fatigue (30.90% vs 25.02%; P < .001) and myalgia (19.15% vs 13.43%; P < .001). Additionally, compared with other occupational groups, HCWs were associated with a lower risk of death after adjustment for potential confounders (odd ratio [OR], 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30-0.79).ConclusionsCompared with COVID-19 cases in other occupational groups, HCWs with COVID-19 have half the risk of death, although they have been shown to have higher rates of fatigue and myalgia.

15 keywords...

hide…