Prevalence and Risk Factors of COVID-19 among Health Care Workers in Rizgary Teaching Hospital in Erbil City/Iraq

Background and objective: The global disease COVID-19 is spreading quickly, according to the World Health Organization. Treating a significant number of patients puts healthcare workers globally at high risk of contracting COVID-19. This study aims to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 infections among healthcare workers and explores associated risk factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare workers at Rizgary Teaching Hospital in Erbil City from September 2022 to September 2023. A sample of 500 participants was selected by systematic random sampling method. A well-designed questionnaire was used to collect information on the prevalence of COVID-19 by dedicating a question in the questionnaire asking if they got COVID-19 infection or not and if yes what was the method they used for diagnosis confirmation, such as PCR testing, blood tests, symptomatic assessment, or radiological examinations as well as identify the risk factors associated with COVID-19 infection in healthcare workers. Results: The study showed that out of 500 participants, 48.2% were males and 51.8% were females, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.0:1.07. The prevalence of COVID-19 infection was found to be 69.4%. The occurrence of COVID-19 infections was highest among obese, married healthcare workers, and older age groups (p value?0.001). The majority of healthcare workers had received the COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusions: The prevalence of COVID-19 infection was high among healthcare workers, especially among those with comorbidities. One of the crucial matters is planning for protective strategies that should be handled during the epidemic of COVID-19 or any other infectious diseases among healthcare workers.