STUDY OF THE RISKS OF COVID-19 INFECTION, HOSPITALIZATION AND DEATH AMONG HEALTHCARE WORKERS COMPARED TO THE ADULT POPULATION OF UKRAINE

Aim. To determine the significance of the professional group of health care workers as a group at increased epidemiological risk of disease, severe course and death from COVID-19; to determine and compare the incidence, mortality, case fatality rate, odds ratio and severity of the new coronavirus disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus Materials and methods. We used operational references on the main indicators of COVID-19 incidence in Ukraine from the website of the Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. An analytical population-based case-control study was conducted to determine the probability of death of healthcare workers and the rest of the adult population in the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus infection in Ukraine during 03.03.2020–30.06.2023. Results. Healthcare workers have a lower or no different risk of requiring mechanical ventilation than the rest of the adult population. In addition, healthcare workers have half the mortality rate. Incident rates and the risk of hospitalization are higher for healthcare workers compared to the rest of the adult population. The higher incident rate of healthcare workers may be due to the fact that the proportion of older age groups in the age structure of healthcare workers is higher than in the age structure of the rest of the adult population. On the other hand, a factor that could potentially reduce the incident and mortality rates of healthcare workers is the lack of data in our analysis on the different degrees of risk of infection among certain groups of healthcare workers themselves. Conclusions. Healthcare workers are a potential risk group for COVID-19. The odds ratio of risks such as infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 probably indicates that the healthcare profession may, on the one hand, create additional risks of illness and death from COVID-19, but on the other hand, it may be a protective factor, as healthcare workers may have a higher level of immunity due to constant contact with patients or due to vaccinations that they can and should receive more often than the rest of the adult population.