TY - JOUR T1 - Occupation, work-related contact and SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid serological status: findings from the Virus Watch prospective cohort study JF - Occupational and Environmental Medicine JO - Occup Environ Med DO - 10.1136/oemed-2021-107920 SP - oemed-2021-107920 AU - Sarah Beale AU - Parth Patel AU - Alison Rodger AU - Isobel Braithwaite AU - Thomas Byrne AU - Wing Lam Erica Fong AU - Ellen Fragaszy AU - Cyril Geismar AU - Jana Kovar AU - Annalan Navaratnam AU - Vincent Nguyen AU - Madhumita Shrotri AU - Anna Aryee AU - Robert Aldridge AU - Andrew Hayward A2 - , Y1 - 2022/04/21 UR - http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2022/04/21/oemed-2021-107920.abstract N2 - Objectives Risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection varies across occupations; however, investigation into factors underlying differential risk is limited. We aimed to estimate the total effect of occupation on SARS-CoV-2 serological status, whether this is mediated by workplace close contact, and how exposure to poorly ventilated workplaces varied across occupations.Methods We used data from a subcohort (n=3775) of adults in the UK-based Virus Watch cohort study who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid antibodies (indicating natural infection). We used logistic decomposition to investigate the relationship between occupation, contact and seropositivity, and logistic regression to investigate exposure to poorly ventilated workplaces.Results Seropositivity was 17.1% among workers with daily close contact vs 10.0% for those with no work-related close contact. Compared with other professional occupations, healthcare, indoor trade/process/plant, leisure/personal service, and transport/mobile machine workers had elevated adjusted total odds of seropositivity (1.80 (1.03 to 3.14) − 2.46 (1.82 to 3.33)). Work-related contact accounted for a variable part of increased odds across occupations (1.04 (1.01 to 1.08) − 1.23 (1.09 to 1.40)). Occupations with raised odds of infection after accounting for work-related contact also had greater exposure to poorly ventilated workplaces.Conclusions Work-related close contact appears to contribute to occupational variation in seropositivity. Reducing contact in workplaces is an important COVID-19 control measure.No data are available. We aim to share aggregate data from this project on our website and via a 'Findings so far' section on our website (https://ucl-virus-watch.net/). We will also be sharing individual record level data on a research data sharing service such as the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service. In sharing the data, we will work within the principles set out in the UKRI guidance on best practice in the management of research data. Access to use of the data while research is being conducted will be managed by the chief investigators (AH and RA) in accordance with the principles set out in the UKRI guidance on best practice in the management of research data. We will put analysis code on publicly available repositories to enable their reuse. ER -