Impact of Occupational and Extra-Professional Exposure Across the Different Waves of the Pandemic on the Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Healthcare Workers-The ORCHESTRA Project.

Background/

Objectives

Healthcare workers (HCWs) were the most exposed job category to SARS-CoV-2, due to patient care, HCW-to-HCW transmission, and community exposure. However, the relative relevance of each source is still debated. To address this issue, this study investigated the dynamics of the professional and extra-professional determinants of infection across the pandemic among a large, multicenter cohort of HCWs.

Methods

The study included 5576 HCWs from four Italian University Hospitals within a European Project, called ORCHESTRA. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected retrospectively via online surveys from March 2020 to September 2022. Factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection during different pandemic periods were evaluated by a multinomial logistic regression model. Results were expressed as Relative Risk Ratios (RRR).

Results

The cumulative incidence was 46.2%. The highest incidence period was the Omicron phase (OVP) (69.7%). The extra-professional source was the most reported (34.3%), followed by the occupational (26.8%). However, in almost 40%, the source was undetected. The RRR for occupational exposures was 0.39 (95% CI 0.25-0.61) during the Pre-Omicron variant Period (POP) and even lower (0.22, 95% CI 0.16-0.29) in the OVP, as compared to extra-professional exposures, using the Pre-Vaccination Period (PVP) as reference.

Conclusions

The dominant source of infection among HCWs changed over time. While occupational contacts were more frequent during PVP, it significantly waned over the subsequent pandemic phases. Implementing procedures and guidelines to prevent infection, even outside the workplace during pandemics, would reduce the spread of infection among HCWs and patients.