COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers: A Prospective Serological-Epidemiological Cohort Study in a Standard Care Hospital in Rural Germany

Stephanie Hoffmann, Juliane Schiebel, Frank Hufert, Heinz-Detlef Gremmels and Jacob Spallek
Additional contact information
Stephanie Hoffmann: Department of Public Health, Institute of Health, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, 01968 Senftenberg, Germany
Juliane Schiebel: Institute for Clinical Chemistry, Laboratory Diagnostics and Microbiology, Klinikum Niederlausitz GmbH, 01968 Senftenberg, Germany
Frank Hufert: Institute of Microbiology and Virology, Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane, 01968 Senftenberg, Germany
Heinz-Detlef Gremmels: Institute for Clinical Chemistry, Laboratory Diagnostics and Microbiology, Klinikum Niederlausitz GmbH, 01968 Senftenberg, Germany
Jacob Spallek: Department of Public Health, Institute of Health, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, 01968 Senftenberg, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-8

Abstract: Healthcare workers (HCW) play a vital role in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic control. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and the risk of COVID-19 infections in a cohort of HCW from four different risk groups (from intensive care unit to administration) of a hospital of a primary care level in rural Germany. The outcomes were monthly measures of antibody seroprevalence over a period of 6 months. Overall, a seroprevalence of 13.41% was determined, with significantly higher prevalence rates among HCW working in areas with more frequent contact to confirmed or suspected cases (30.30%, p = 0.003). The group specific differences in the risk of infection from COVID-19 were detected, as HCW groups with frequent exposure seemed to have an increased risk (RR = 3.18, p = 0.02; CI95 1.09–9.24). The findings contribute to the epidemiological understanding of the virus spread in an unvaccinated population group, which is highly relevant for the pandemic management.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; immunity; antibody; healthcare; staff; COVID-19; seroprevalence; pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10999/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10999/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:20:p:10999-:d:660040

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().