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Semin Respir Crit Care Med 2023; 44(03): 340-348
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1766118
Review Article

Transmission and Risk Factors of COVID-19 among Health Care Workers

Majdi R.M. Alghader 
1   Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
,
Damaskini Valvi 
1   Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
,
Rafael E. de la Hoz 
1   Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York
› Institutsangaben Funding The authors declare funding support from NIEHS through grant no.: P30 ES023515. This work fulfilled some of Majdi Alghader's requirements toward a Master of Public Health degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a significant occupational risk factor to health care workers (HCWs). As in previous events, this occupational risk amplifies and compounds the adverse impact of the pandemic. We conducted a narrative review summarizing risk factors associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission in HCWs. We searched for original observational studies (including case-control, cross-sectional, prospective and retrospective cohorts) using PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. A total of 22 articles were reviewed, including eligible English articles published between April 2020 and May 2022. Job category, work environment, personal protective equipment (PPE) noncompliance, lack of PPE awareness and training, unvaccinated status, and competing community and household exposures were identified as risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 transmission among HCWs. Effective measures to protect HCWs from SARS-CoV-2 need to account for the identified occupational risk factors. Identifying and understanding COVID-19 risk factors among HCWs must be considered a public health priority for policy makers to mitigate occupational and community transmission in current and future epidemics.

Keywords

COVID-19 - occupational health - occupational exposure - SARS-CoV-2 transmission - occupational risk factor - health care worker

Supplementary Material



Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
04. April 2023

© 2023. Thieme. All rights reserved.

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