Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among healthcare workers in Hubei Province, China

Abstract

Objective: To 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.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Participants: The 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.

Methods: We used descriptive statistics to summarize patient characteristics.

Results: Of 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).

Conclusions: Compared 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.

Fig. 1.

The flowchart of subjects.

Fig. 2.

Epidemiological curve of SARS-CoV-2 in Hubei Province through February 27, 2020. Note. This epidemiological curve shows the progression of illness among HCWs in the outbreak over time.