Seroprevalence of COVID-19 IgG antibodies among healthcare workers of Pakistan: a cross-sectional study assessing exposure to COVID-19 and identification of high-risk subgroups

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we aimed to find the seroprevalence of healthcare workers (HCWs) of Pakistan involved in the treatment and care of patients with COVID-19.

Setting: This was a cross-sectional study and total of 15 000 HCWs involved in providing services and care to the patients with COVID-19 were randomly selected from all over Pakistan.

Participants: Informed consent was taken from all participants and were included according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. All testing was done on serum samples for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies using Abbott Chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay. An index of 1.4 was used as a cut-off to mark reactive and non-reactive cases. SPSS V.23.0 was used for data analysis.

Outcome: Immune status of the study population depicting seroprevalence among HCWs.

Results: Out of all the candidates, majority of the HCWs were men (61.9%) and were doctors (62.4%). The mean age of participants was 32.8 years (SD 8.7) and majority were asymptomatic (51.8%). In this study, 33% of the HCWs were reactive for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody. Around 44% of the reactive cases were asymptomatic. The symptoms more significantly associated with seropositivity were: fever (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.16 to 1.48), headache (OR 2.43; 95% CI 2.16 to 2.73), cough and shortness of breath (OR 2.10; 95% CI 1.91 to 2.31), loss of sense of smell or taste (OR 3.70; 95% CI 3.29 to 4.17) (p<0.001). Factors which showed significant association with the presence of antibodies were professional category (absolute risk (AR) 0.09; OR 1.46; 95% CI 1.36 to 1.56), availability of protective masks (AR 0.02; OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.84 to 0.96), safety goggles (AR 0.02; OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.84 to 0.97) and living arrangements (AR 0.03; OR 1.12; 95% CI 1.04 to 1.20) (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Our study showed a high seropositivity of HCWs dealing with patients with COVID-19 in Pakistan revealing significant association with professional category, nature of work place and precautions taken while performing duties.

Keywords: chemical pathology; health & safety; infectious diseases; public health.