Health care workers have shorter length of hospitalization and less likelihood of ICU admission<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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MONDAY, Feb. 8, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Health care worker (HCW) status is not associated with poorer outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a study published online Jan. 28 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jeong Yun Yang, M.D., from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, along with colleagues from the DMC-19 Study Group and the North American Alliance for the Study of Digestive Manifestations of COVID-19, evaluated the association between HCW status and outcomes among 1,790 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at 36 North American health care centers (April 15 to June 5, 2020). The analysis included 122 HCWs and 366 propensity-matched non-HCWs.<\/p>\n The researchers found that the odds of mechanical ventilation or death were not significantly different for HCWs compared with non-HCWs (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.60; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.34 to 1.04). However, HCWs were less likely to require admission to an intensive care unit (aOR, 0.56; 95 percent CI, 0.34 to 0.92) and also less likely to require an admission of seven days or longer (aOR, 0.53; 95 percent CI, 0.34 to 0.83). The two groups did not differ in terms of mechanical ventilation (aOR, 0.66; 95 percent CI, 0.37 to 1.17), death (aOR, 0.47; 95 percent CI, 0.18 to 1.27), or vasopressor requirements (aOR, 0.68; 95 percent CI, 0.37 to 1.24).<\/p>\n “Further research is needed to elucidate the proportion of HCW infections acquired in the workplace and to assess whether HCW type is associated with outcomes,” the authors write.<\/p>\n One author disclosed financial ties to the medical technology industry.<\/p>\n