The NICD study also showed that in-hospital mortality among healthcare workers was associated with age, race, comorbidities and health sector, as well as when the infection occurred.
A NICD study has found that healthcare workers are less likely to die from Covid-19 than non-healthcare workers. Stock photo.A new study has found that healthcare workers were less likely to die after being hospitalised with Covid-19 than non-healthcare workers, although mortality was proportionally higher among frontline workers in the early days of the pandemic.
The study — led by researchers from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases , Right to Care, National Institute for Occupational Health, Wits University and University of Join-hospital mortality among healthcare workers was associated with age, race, comorbidities and health sector, as well as when the infection occurred.
“We found that the risk of in-hospital Covid-19 mortality among hospitalised healthcare workers was lower when compared to non-HCWs,” the authors said, adding that hospitalisation among healthcare workers decreased during the second wave as a result of better“In addition, acquired immunity from infections in the first wave could have led to a decline in HCW [healthcare workers] Covid-19 cases in the second wave,” the report said.
The study, which drew on the Datcov national hospital surveillance system, covered Covid-19 patients aged 20 to 65 who were admitted to both public and private health facilities between March 5 2020 and April 30 this year, with a further distinction made between healthcare workers and non-healthcare workers.