Open AccessSeroepidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in healthcare personnel working at the largest tertiary COVID-19 referral hospitals in Mexico City
Author(s) -
Vanessa Dávila-Conn,
Maribel Soto-Nava,
Yanink Caro-Vega,
Héctor E Paz-Juárez,
Pedro García-Esparza,
Daniela TapiaTrejo,
Marissa PérezGarcía,
Pablo F. Belaunzarán-Zamudio,
Gustavo ReyesTerán,
Juan SierraMadero,
Arturo Galindo-Fraga,
Santiago ÁvilaRíos
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0264964
Subject(s) - medicine , odds ratio , interquartile range , family medicine , referral , health care , confidence interval , incidence (geometry) , personal protective equipment , emergency medicine , covid-19 , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , physics , optics , economics , economic growth
We performed a longitudinal SARS-CoV-2 seroepidemiological study in healthcare personnel of the two largest tertiary COVID-19 referral hospitals in Mexico City. Methods All healthcare personnel, including staff physicians, physicians in training, nurses, laboratory technicians, researchers, students, housekeeping, maintenance, security, and administrative staff were invited to voluntarily participate, after written informed consent. Participants answered a computer-assisted self-administered interview and donated blood samples for antibody testing every three weeks from October 2020 to June 2021. Results A total of 883 participants (out of 3639 registered employees) contributed with at least one blood sample. The median age was 36 years (interquartile range: 28–46) and 70% were women. The most common occupations were nurse (28%), physician (24%), and administrative staff (22%). Two hundred and ninety participants (32.8%) had a positive-test result in any of the visits, yielding an overall adjusted prevalence of 33.5% for the whole study-period. Two hundred and thirty-five positive tests were identified at the baseline visit (prevalent cases), the remaining 55 positive tests were incident cases. Prevalent cases showed associations with both occupational (institution 2 vs. 1: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.54–3.25; laboratory technician vs. physician: aOR = 4.38, 95% CI: 1.75–10.93) and community (municipality of residence Xochimilco vs. Tlalpan: aOR = 2.03, 95% CI: 1.09–3.79) risk-factors. The incidence rate was 3.0 cases per 100 person-months. Incident cases were associated with community-acquired risk, due to contact with suspect/confirmed COVID-19 cases (HR = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.21–5.00). Conclusions We observed that between October 2020 and June 2021, healthcare workers of the two largest tertiary COVID-19 referral centers in Mexico City had similar level of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 than the general population. Most variables associated with exposure in this setting pointed toward community rather than occupational risk. Our observations are consistent with successful occupational medicine programs for SARS-CoV-2 infection control in the participating institutions but suggest the need to strengthen mitigation strategies in the community.