Risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection and epidemiological profile of Brazilian anesthesiologists during the COVID-19 pandemic: cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction The devasting effects of COVID-19 have caused economic and health impacts worldwide. Anesthesiologists were one of the key professionals fighting the pandemic and have been highly exposed at their multiple sites of clinical practice. Thus, the importance of determining the nature of the infection in this population that provides care to SARS-CoV-2 patients. Method We conducted a cross-sectional study administering an online questionnaire to examine the demographic and epidemiological profile of these professionals in Brazil, and to describe the risk factors for viral infection during the pandemic. Results A total of 1,127 anesthesiologists answered the questionnaire, 55.2% were men, more than 90% with age below 60 years, with infection and reinfection rates of 14.7% and 0.5%, respectively, and 47.2% reported a significant income reduction. The predictors of COVID-19 contamination were practicing in operating rooms (OR = 0.42; 95% CI 0.23–0.78), direct contact with infected patients (OR = 5.74; 95% CI 3.05–11.57), indirect contact with infected patients (OR = 2.43; 95% CI 1.13–5.33), working in a pre-hospital setting (OR = 2.36; 95% CI 1.04–5.03), and presence of immunosuppression, except for cancer (OR = 4.89; 95% CI 1.16–19.01). Conclusion COVID-19 had enormous consequences on Brazilian anesthesiologists regarding sociodemographic aspects and contamination rates (5.57 times higher than in the general population). These are alarming and unprecedented findings for this professional group, as they reveal the considerable risk of infection and its independent predictor variables.

Two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: an anesthesiology perspective

“…For all the reasons above, in this issue of the Brazilian Journal of Anesthesiology , we invite readers to access several interesting studies providing new insights into the role of the anesthesiologist in the COVID-19 pandemic. 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 These studies have addressed a myriad of COVID-19-related topics, including the risk for environmental exposure to the SARS-CoV-2, potential protective measures to reduce contamination during airway management, mental health of healthcare providers and education concerns during the pandemic, a new technique for percutaneous tracheostomy in COVID-19 patients, and potential benefits of early awake prone positioning in patients displaying COVID-19-related ARDS.…”

“…Among these studies, it is tempting to highlight the alarming infection rates of anesthesiologists in Brazil. [14] Similarly to other countries, Brazilian anesthesiologists were often elected to perform orotracheal intubation in COVID-19 patients due to their airway management skills. In this study, Costa et al have demonstrated that the prevalence of coronavirus infection among anesthesiologists was 5.57 times higher as compared with the overall infection rate of the Brazilian population, reflecting the high occupational exposure and risk of infection.…”