Characteristics and factors associated with the severity of COVID-19 in primary care professionals followed in a basic prevention unit

Abstract

Background: 24.1% of COVID-19 cases reported in Spain from the start of the COVID-19 alert until 29 May 2020 were in healthcare workers. The aim was to describe the demographic, clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Primary Care professionals notified for suspected or contact COVID-19 and to know the factors associated with the severity of the disease. This will allow the development of risk prevention strategies in Primary Care professionals.

Methods: We included all Primary Care professionals of the Territorial Management of Barcelona (GTBCN) notified as suspicion or contact with COVID-19 between March 15 and June 15, 2020. Demographic, clinical and epidemiological variables of the professionals and episodes reported were collected, as well as possible risk factors associated with severity. Descriptive and logistic regression analysis were

performed.

Results: 1,511 episodes corresponding to 1,427 professionals (31.3% of the GTBCN staff) were reported. 76.4% were women, with a mean age of 45.32 years. Of the professionals reported, 28.5% presented COVID-19 in some episode, and of these 18.2% presented severe symptomatology. Risk factors associated with severity were: respiratory pathology (OR: 2.54, 95%CI: 1.16-5.56) and neoplasia (OR: 4.48, 95%CI: 1.38-14.55).

Conclusions: The proportion of professionals notified due to suspicion or contact with COVID-19 is similar to that observed in other studies, being mostly concentrated in the care categories of primary care teams. The factors associated with symptom severity were previous respiratory disease and neoplasia.