COVID-19 outpatient management: Shorter time to recovery in Healthcare workers according to an electronic daily symptoms assessment

OBJECTIVES: Our aim is to compare the course of the disease between healthcare workers (HCWs) and non-HCWs suffering from covid-19 and eligible for outpatient management. METHODS: Single-center prospective cohort of outpatients with covid-19, diagnosed between the 10th March and the 2nd April, 2020 with a daily collection of symptoms by an on-line auto-questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 186 patients were included (median age, 41 years [interquartile range, 19–78 years]; 74.2% female), of whom 132 (71%) were HCWs. The median follow-up after symptom onset was 14 (min 4–max 24) days. HCWs were significantly younger than non-HCWs (median age 40.3 years vs. 47.2 years [P < 0.005]), and 81.8% were women. Four patients (2.2%) were hospitalized including one HCW. The median time to recovery was 9 days after symptom onset (95% CI 8-11) in the global population and respectively 8 (95% CI 8–9) and 13 (95% CI 11–15) days in HCWs and in non-HCWs (P < 0.005). After adjusting for age, co-morbidities, and gender, the instantaneous risk ratio for symptom absence in HCWs was 1.76 compared with non-HCWs (95% CI [1.16–2.67], P = 0.037). CONCLUSION: HCWs suffering from covid-19 had favorable outcomes and had a shorter time to recovery than non HCWs.