TY - JOUR
T1 - Occupation and risk of severe COVID-19
T2 - Prospective cohort study of 120 075 UK Biobank participants
AU - Mutambudzi, Miriam
AU - Niedwiedz, Claire
AU - Macdonald, Ewan Beaton
AU - Leyland, Alastair
AU - Mair, Frances
AU - Anderson, Jana
AU - Celis-Morales, Carlos
AU - Cleland, John
AU - Forbes, John
AU - Gill, Jason
AU - Hastie, Claire
AU - Ho, Frederick
AU - Jani, Bhautesh
AU - Mackay, Daniel F.
AU - Nicholl, Barbara
AU - O'donnell, Catherine
AU - Sattar, Naveed
AU - Welsh, Paul
AU - Pell, Jill P.
AU - Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal
AU - Demou, Evangelia
N1 - Funding Information:
Contributors SVK and ED conceived the idea for the study. ED, SVK, CLN, JPP and MM designed the study. CLN led and conducted the statistical analysis and was supported by MM. MM, CLN and ED drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results, critically revised the paper and agreed on the final version for submission.
Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021.
PY - 2021/5/1
Y1 - 2021/5/1
N2 - Objectives To investigate severe COVID-19 risk by occupational group. Methods Baseline UK Biobank data (2006-10) for England were linked to SARS-CoV-2 test results from Public Health England (16 March to 26 July 2020). Included participants were employed or self-employed at baseline, alive and aged <65 years in 2020. Poisson regression models were adjusted sequentially for baseline demographic, socioeconomic, work-related, health, and lifestyle-related risk factors to assess risk ratios (RRs) for testing positive in hospital or death due to COVID-19 by three occupational classification schemes (including Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) 2000). Results Of 120 075 participants, 271 had severe COVID-19. Relative to non-essential workers, healthcare workers (RR 7.43, 95% CI 5.52 to 10.00), social and education workers (RR 1.84, 95% CI 1.21 to 2.82) and other essential workers (RR 1.60, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.45) had a higher risk of severe COVID-19. Using more detailed groupings, medical support staff (RR 8.70, 95% CI 4.87 to 15.55), social care (RR 2.46, 95% CI 1.47 to 4.14) and transport workers (RR 2.20, 95% CI 1.21 to 4.00) had the highest risk within the broader groups. Compared with white non-essential workers, non-white non-essential workers had a higher risk (RR 3.27, 95% CI 1.90 to 5.62) and non-white essential workers had the highest risk (RR 8.34, 95% CI 5.17 to 13.47). Using SOC 2000 major groups, associate professional and technical occupations, personal service occupations and plant and machine operatives had a higher risk, compared with managers and senior officials. Conclusions Essential workers have a higher risk of severe COVID-19. These findings underscore the need for national and organisational policies and practices that protect and support workers with an elevated risk of severe COVID-19.
AB - Objectives To investigate severe COVID-19 risk by occupational group. Methods Baseline UK Biobank data (2006-10) for England were linked to SARS-CoV-2 test results from Public Health England (16 March to 26 July 2020). Included participants were employed or self-employed at baseline, alive and aged <65 years in 2020. Poisson regression models were adjusted sequentially for baseline demographic, socioeconomic, work-related, health, and lifestyle-related risk factors to assess risk ratios (RRs) for testing positive in hospital or death due to COVID-19 by three occupational classification schemes (including Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) 2000). Results Of 120 075 participants, 271 had severe COVID-19. Relative to non-essential workers, healthcare workers (RR 7.43, 95% CI 5.52 to 10.00), social and education workers (RR 1.84, 95% CI 1.21 to 2.82) and other essential workers (RR 1.60, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.45) had a higher risk of severe COVID-19. Using more detailed groupings, medical support staff (RR 8.70, 95% CI 4.87 to 15.55), social care (RR 2.46, 95% CI 1.47 to 4.14) and transport workers (RR 2.20, 95% CI 1.21 to 4.00) had the highest risk within the broader groups. Compared with white non-essential workers, non-white non-essential workers had a higher risk (RR 3.27, 95% CI 1.90 to 5.62) and non-white essential workers had the highest risk (RR 8.34, 95% CI 5.17 to 13.47). Using SOC 2000 major groups, associate professional and technical occupations, personal service occupations and plant and machine operatives had a higher risk, compared with managers and senior officials. Conclusions Essential workers have a higher risk of severe COVID-19. These findings underscore the need for national and organisational policies and practices that protect and support workers with an elevated risk of severe COVID-19.
KW - exposure assessment
KW - health care workers
KW - investigation of outbreaks of illness
KW - physicians
KW - public health
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U2 - 10.1136/oemed-2020-106731
DO - 10.1136/oemed-2020-106731
M3 - Article
C2 - 33298533
AN - SCOPUS:85097563426
SN - 1351-0711
VL - 78
SP - 307
EP - 314
JO - Occupational and Environmental Medicine
JF - Occupational and Environmental Medicine
IS - 5
ER -