Clinicoepidemiological Profile and Outcome of COVID-19 Positive Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Care Centre in South India

Abstract

Introduction: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is rapidly spreading in India and all over the world. Being at the frontline in the battle against COVID-19, Health Care Workers (HCWs) are among the greatest groups at risk of COVID-19 infection. Therefore, it is very important to study the risk and sources of infection and clinical outcome of HCWs. Aim: To study the clinico-epidemiological profile and outcome of COVID-19 positive HCWs in Government Medical College Thrissur, Kerala, India. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital based cross-sectional study conducted during the time period from February 2020 to December 2020. A semi-structured telephonic interview schedule and hospital based records were used to collect the demographic, epidemiological and clinical information of 235 COVID-19 positive HCWs. Proportions along with 95% Confidence Interval was used to express the results. Results: Among 235 COVID-19 positive HCWs, 51% were either nurses or auxiliary nursing staff. Non-COVID-19 areas had 31.9% infections, while 17.1% of infections occured in COVID-19 areas. Around 57% acquired infection from health care settings. Common symptoms were fever (67.2%), myalgia (40.4%) and headache (39.6%). Around 21.3% subjects remained asymptomatic. Hand hygiene compliance was 96.6%. Among positive HCWs, 57% used N95 mask, 52.8% used gloves, 49.8% used apron and 48.9% used face shield in the hospital. Only 0.85% required Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission. No mortality was reported in the present study. Conclusion: There is a considerable risk for COVID-19 infection among HCWs in hospital settings especially from non-COVID-19 areas. Present study findings show the risk of exposure and need of infection control measures even outside the health care settings. Early identification and isolation of cases is very important. This study will be useful for policy makers in planning control strategies and preventing COVID-19 infections among HCWs.