Investigating the occupational factors related to the infection of COVID-19 in patients admitted to Imam Reza (AS) hospital in Mashhad

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Medicine and Occupational Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

2 specialist in occupational medicine and occupational diseases, sleep disorders, associate professor, department of Occupational medicine and occupational Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

4 resident of Occupational Medicine and Occupational Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

10.22038/mjms.2025.71005.4216

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Preventive and control measures to protect workers against COVID-19 infection depend on the type of work performed and the risk of exposure to infected people and contamination of the work environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the occupational factors associated with COVID-19 infection in patients.
MATERIAL & METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Covid-19 department of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad in 2020-2021. The participants were patients admitted to the hospital's COVID-19 ward. After obtaining ethical permissions from the university, how to complete the checklist was explained to the patients, and in the case of critically ill patients, their families were contacted and filled out. Finally, the data was analyzed SPSS 20 software. Central indices and frequency distribution and Fisher's tests were used to compare qualitative variables between job groups. The significance level is 0.05.
RESULT: 334 (87%) of the patients were male and the average age of the studied subjects was 45.67 ± 10.64 years. The highest frequency of the place of infection of COVID-19 was related to the community (61.2 %) and then to the workplace (57.8 %). 42.2% of patients had administrative-office jobs. Infection risk factors included occupational contact in 53.4%, use of public transportation in 44.8% and lack of proper ventilation system in the workplace in 9.6% of patients.
CONCLUSION: Occupational exposures have significant effects on contracting COVID-19 in working population. Providing necessary training at the workplace can reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 among employees in different jobs.

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References

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Medical Journal of Mashhad university of Medical Sciences
Volume 68, Issue 2
January and February 2025
Pages 249-258

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