RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
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
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP oemed-2021-107920
DO 10.1136/oemed-2021-107920
A1 Sarah Beale
A1 Parth Patel
A1 Alison Rodger
A1 Isobel Braithwaite
A1 Thomas Byrne
A1 Wing Lam Erica Fong
A1 Ellen Fragaszy
A1 Cyril Geismar
A1 Jana Kovar
A1 Annalan Navaratnam
A1 Vincent Nguyen
A1 Madhumita Shrotri
A1 Anna Aryee
A1 Robert Aldridge
A1 Andrew Hayward
A1 ,
YR 2022
UL http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2022/04/21/oemed-2021-107920.abstract
AB 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.