Clinical presentation of health care workers with symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 at the İzmir tertiary education hospital, during an early phase of the pandemic.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate and report on the data regarding the clinical characteristics and outcomes of healthcare workers with COVID-19 at tertiary education hospitals from Turkey. This was a single center, retrospective, descriptive and observational study using cross-sectional data, which were collected from confirmed COVID-19 patients at a tertiary education hospital. Patients' demographic and clinical characteristics, mortality rates, and the factors associated with hospitalization were analyzed. By May 15, 2020, 480 patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 in our hospital where 49 (10.2%) of whom were HCWs. The mean age was 40.0 ± 8.45 (75.5% female). The most common symptoms were cough (32.7%), fever (30.6%), and myalgia (14.3%). Comorbidities were present in 32.7% of the patients. Most of the HCWs were nurses (53.1%) and physicians (18.4%), and the remaining 14 (28.6%) were cleaning and administrative staff. The severity of the disease was mild in 65.3% and severe in 34.7% HCWs. Leukocyte, neutrophil, lymphocyte and platelet values were statistically lower in hospitalized patients. There was a statistically significant relationship between the presence of infiltration on the chest X-ray, and the patient's symptoms with the severity of the disease (respectively p= 0.002 and 0.009). In conclusion, the frequency of COVID-19 in healthcare workers is high. The study presents the characteristics of HCWs infected with coronavirus from a single center in Turkey.