Demographic characteristics of health workers in the two tertiary hospitals
| Demographic characteristics | Overall | SAH n (%) | TAH n (%) | P value (χ2 test) |
| Participants (n) | 697 | 344 | 353 | |
| Age (years) (median (IQR)) | 42 (32–51) | 46 (33–51) | 39 (31–51) | 0.009* |
| Gender (%F:M) | 77:23 | 84:16 | 71:29 | <0.001 |
| BMI (median (IQR)) | 29 (26–34) | 31 (27–37) | 28 (25–32) | <0.001* |
| Smoking status: n (%) | <0.001 | |||
| Current smokers | 42 (6) | 40 (12) | 2 (1) | |
| Ex-smokers | 48 (7) | 48 (14) | 0 (0) | |
| Never smokers | 607 (87) | 256 (74) | 351 (99) | |
| Job title: n (%) | <0.001 | |||
| Registered nurse | 283 (41) | 132 (38) | 151 (43) | |
| Nurse assistant/health attendant | 168 (24) | 59 (17) | 109 (31) | |
| Enrolled nurse | 75 (11) | 48 (14) | 27 (8) | |
| Cleaner | 85 (12) | 45 (13) | 40 (11) | |
| Clerk | 38 (5) | 13 (4) | 25 (7) | |
| Technician | 34 (5) | 33 (10) | 1 (0) | |
| Porter | 14 (2) | 14 (4) | 0 (0) | |
| Total years in healthcare industry (median (IQR)) | 14 (6–28) | 20 (8–28) | 11 (4–27) | <0.001* |
| Family history of allergy | 353 (51) | 219 (64) | 134 (38) | <0.001 |
| Atopy (positive phadiatop test) | 296 (43) | 160 (47) | 136 (40) | 0.047 |
| Allergic sensitisation to latex (Hev b5 or Hev b6.02) | 11 (2) | 7 (2) | 4 (1) | 0.352 |
| Latex Hev b5 | 3 (0) | 3 (1) | 0 (0) | 0.122† |
| Latex Hev b6.02 | 8 (1) | 4 (1) | 4 (1) | 1.000† |
*Wilcoxon sum rank test.
†Fisher’s exact test.
BMI, body mass index; F, female; M, male; SAH, South African hospital; TAH, Tanzanian hospital.