Healthcare Worker Case Control COVID-19 Questionnaire

Summary

A large-scale study by our team investigating the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (The virus that causes COVID-19) in healthcare workers (HCW) has identified a number of key demographics and behaviours that increase an individual HCW’s risk of SARS-COV-2 infection.  Factors such as age, gender and ethnicity appear to play a role in the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection, however the mechanisms behind this are not currently known.

Key at risk groups in HCWs include healthcare assistants and theatre staff, as well as those staff who identify as Black, Asian and Minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME).

Working with patients diagnosed with COVID-19 also contributes to the likelihood of being infected. This allows the identification of at-risk groups, but does not provide insight in to why those groups are at a higher risk of infection, or what can be done to mitigate that risk.

Ethnicity, sex and body mass index have also been shown to influence the risk of developing severe and fatal COVID-19, however it is not yet known whether any demonstrated increased risks of severe and fatal disease are do to genetic, environmental or behavioural factors, or a combination.

This study aims to compare physical, socioeconomic, demographic and occupational risk factors in HCWs between those who have SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (and therefore past infection), and those who do not. This will allow us to identify specific factors that can be targeted to reduce the risk of infection in high-risk groups.

Participation: For this study, 2278 COVID-19 BioResource volunteers took part by completing a comprehensive epidemiology based questionnaire

Organisation: This study is organised by Dr Daniel Cooper based at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.