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. 2022 Dec;38(12):2021-2028.
doi: 10.1080/03007995.2022.2125258. Epub 2022 Oct 14.

Evaluation of risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 transmission

Mai Ngoc Luu  1 , Shamael Thabit Mohammed Alhady  2 , Minh Duc Nguyen Tran  3 , Le Van Truong  4 , Ahmad Qarawi  5 , U Venkatesh  6 , Ranjit Tiwari  7 , Ian Christopher Naungayan Rocha  8 , Le Huu Nhat Minh  9   10   11 , Rohanti Ravikulan  12 , Shyam Prakash Dumre  13 , Hoang Thi Nam Giang  14 , Dmytro Pavlenko  15 , Fatmaelzahraa Yasser Ali  16 , Bao-Tran Do Le  17 , Sedighe Karimzadeh  18   19 , Parshal Bhandari  20 , Jaffer Shah  21 , Jeza Muhamad Abdul Aziz  22   23 , Nguyen Tien Huy  24 ; TMGH COVID-19 Collaborators
Affiliations

Evaluation of risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 transmission

Mai Ngoc Luu et al. Curr Med Res Opin. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Since there is not enough evidence of risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, this study aimed to evaluate them.

Methods: This survey-based study was conducted across 66 countries from May to November 2020 among suspected and confirmed individuals with COVID-19. The stepwise AIC method was utilized to determine the optimal multivariable logistic regression to explore predictive factors of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Results: Among 2372 respondents who participated in the study, there were 1172 valid responses. The profession of non-healthcare-worker (OR: 1.77, 95%CI: 1.04-3.00, p = .032), history of SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV infection (OR: 4.78, 95%CI: 2.34-9.63, p < .001), higher frequency of contact with colleagues (OR: 1.17, 95%CI: 1.01-1.37, p = .041), and habit of hugging when greeting (OR: 1.25, 95%CI: 1.00-1.56, p = .049) were associated with an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Current smokers had a lower likelihood of having COVID-19 compared to former smokers (OR: 5.41, 95%CI: 1.93-17.49, p = .002) or non-smokers (OR: 3.69, 95%CI: 1.48-11.11, p = .01).

Conclusions: Our study suggests several risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 transmission including the profession of non-healthcare workers, history of other coronavirus infections, frequent close contact with colleagues, the habit of hugging when greeting, and smoking status.

Keywords: COVID-19; global survey; health surveys; risk factors; transmission.

Plain language summary

Since there is not enough evidence of risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, this study aimed to evaluate them. The risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection was higher among non-healthcare workers and among those who had a history of being tested positive for SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV before the COVID-19 outbreak. The habit of frequent contact with colleagues or hugging when greeting significantly increased the risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2. The current smokers had a lower risk of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 than others who had a habit of smoking tobacco in the past or who had never smoked.

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