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. 2022 Jun;191(3):1023-1028.
doi: 10.1007/s11845-021-02690-4. Epub 2021 Jun 30.

High anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence in healthcare workers in an Irish university teaching hospital

Ann Leonard #  1 , Anna Rose Prior #  2 , Phyllis Reilly  1 , Caroline Murray  1 , Meghan O' Brien  1 , Gillian Maguire  1 , Deborah Ennis  1 , Alex Reid  3 , Ana Rakovac  1 , Gerard Boran  1
Affiliations

High anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence in healthcare workers in an Irish university teaching hospital

Ann Leonard et al. Ir J Med Sci. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Introduction: Healthcare workers are at very high risk for SARS-CoV-2 exposure and infection. This study evaluated anti-SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in healthcare workers in a tertiary care hospital and then correlated seroprevalence with confirmed or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection in this population since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: The study was approved by our institution's Joint Research Ethics Committee in June 2020. All volunteers were provided with a consent form, an information leaflet and a questionnaire on the day before phlebotomy. Serum samples were collected from 1176 participants over a 3-month period and analysed using the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 assay (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) which detects total antibodies against the nucleocapsid protein of SARs-COV-2.

Results: Overall anti-SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among participating healthcare workers was 17.9%. The rate of confirmed infection by real-time polymerase chain reaction molecular testing prior to participation was 12.2%. Of 211 participants who had a reactive antibody test result, 37% did not have COVID-19 infection confirmed at any point prior to participation in this study, either having had a swab which did not detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA or having never been tested. Seropositivity was the highest (30%) in the youngest quintile of age (20-29 years old). Staff with more patient contact had a higher seroprevalence of 19.5% compared to 13.4% in staff with less patient contact.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a substantial proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections in healthcare workers may be asymptomatic or subclinical and thus potentially represent a significant transmission risk to colleagues and patients.

Keywords: Antibody; Healthcare worker; SARS-CoV-2; Seroprevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The age distribution of participants and seroprevalence of HCW determined by age, gender, RT-PCR test and patient contact. Individual graphs labelled A–E. (A) Age distribution of participants, (B) Seroprevalence of HCW in age cohorts, (C) Seroprevalence of HCW by gender, (D) Seroprevalence of HCW by RT-PCR test, (E) Seroprevalence of HCW participants determined by patient contact
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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