COVID-19 infection among health care workers: A hospital based study from Indian state of Meghalaya

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 can infect any individual, but the group most susceptible is the Health Care Workers (HCWs) who are directly involved in COVID-19 patient care. Despite adhering to the recommended personal prospective equipment, a disproportionately large number of cases of COVID-19 were reported among the HCWs. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To study the burden of COVID-19 infection among the HCWs and to study the probable factors associated with increased risk of COVID-19 infection among HCWs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A hospital-based prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching institute in the state of Meghalaya, India for the period between 1(st) May 2020 and 30(th) June 2021 and included only laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases. Data collected included: A) Demographic data – age, gender, category of HCW, B) History of exposure, place of posting, C) Clinical presentation and disease category. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS: A total of 144 cases were included in the study. The mean age of affected HCWs was 33.83 ± 1.408 years and male to female ratio was 0.47:1. The commonest age group affected was 18 to 30 years of age (45.14%). The majority of the HCWs were Nursing Officers (staff) (52.78%) followed by Resident Doctors (18.06%). Out of all cases, 135 (93.75%) were either asymptomatic or had mildly symptoms. In 96 (66.67%) HCWs, there was high-risk contact with a known case of COVID-19. High-risk contact outside the COVID-19 designated area of the hospital was noted in 53 (36.81%) cases; however, only 22 (15.27%) patients had a history of working in the COVID-19 designated area at the workplace. CONCLUSION: The most common group that got infected was the nursing staff followed by the resident doctors, with more than ninety percent of the cases having either mild symptoms or were asymptomatic. The risk of contracting COVID-19 infection was higher in non-COVID-19 as compared to COVID-19 designated areas of the hospital.