COVID-19 severity among healthcare workers: overweight male physicians at risk

Abstract

We performed a prospective longitudinal cohort study in two healthcare settings. In total, 909 HCWs out of 3982 (23.35%) were diagnosed with COVID-19 before the vaccination era. Eighty-five per cent of COVID-19 positive HCWs (n = 774) were asymptomatic or mild, and 15% were moderate or severe. The mean age of the infected HCWs in the moderate or severe group was higher than the mild or asymptomatic group (35.4 vs. 31.3 years, p < 0.001). Thirty-two per cent of HCWs were male and the rate of male gender was more frequent in the moderate/severe group (p = 0.009). The rate of those who have cardiovascular diseases (p = 0.003) and diabetes mellitus (p = 0.044) were significantly higher among the HCWs with moderate or severe COVID-19. In multivariate analysis, male gender (OR:1.65, CI:1.11-2.46, p = 0.013), BMI > 30 (OR: 1.9, CI: 1.09-3.51, p = 0.024), and being physician (OR: 2.56, CI:1.45-4.52, p = 0.001) were found to be associated with moderate or severe COVID-19.