SynthesisInternational journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases2021
COVID-19 and healthcare workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 199 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
199 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 370 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of personal protective equipment to prevent environmental infection of COVID-19 among healthcare workers: a systematic review.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2023Pooled it
- The COVID-19 Pandemic and Health and Care Workers: Findings From a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2020-2021).International journal of public health · 2023Pooled it
- Postvaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of medical virology · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of personal protective equipment use on health care workers' physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.American journal of infection control · 2021Pooled it
- Anxiety and depression among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic umbrella review of the global evidence.BMJ open · 2021Pooled it
- The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among health care workers before the era of vaccination: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2021Pooled it
- COVID-19 prophylaxis with doxycycline and zinc in health care workers: a prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2022Trial
- How (not) to mobilize health workers in the fight against vaccine hesitancy: Experimental evidence from Germany's AstraZeneca controversy.BMC public health · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Infection prevention and control measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa: a multinational cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Infection prevention and control adherence among SARS-CoV-2 infected healthcare workers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: lessons for future outbreaks.Tropical medicine and health · 2026Article
- Long-Term Durability and Dynamics of Anti-S-RBD IgG Response in Healthcare Workers: A Comparative Analysis of Homologous and Heterologous SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Schedules in a 1-Year Serial Cross-Sectional Study.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2026Article
- Prevalence and predictive factors of long COVID in nurses in Brazil.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Vaccines as a psychological shield: the role of vaccine acceptance in mitigating COVID-19 obsession, burnout, and death anxiety among medical personnel.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Long-term symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection in a cohort of healthcare workers in Qatar.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Incidence of and Risk Factors for SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Vaccinated Healthcare Workers During Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Gamma Variant in the Amazon Region, Brazil, 2021.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025Article
- Profile, Infection, and Vaccination Uptake: A Cohort of Canadian Retail Workers During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.Infectious disease reports · 2025Article
- Determinants of vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers in an international multicenter study within the EuCARE project.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Secondary stressors and their psychosocial impacts on healthcare staff: lessons from a qualitative systematic review from the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.BJPsych open · 2025Review
- Mapping the viral battlefield: SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamics among healthcare workers in Brazil.Human resources for health · 2025Article
139 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has focused attention on the challenges and risks faced by frontline healthcare workers (HCW). This study aimed to describe the clinical outcomes and risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCW.
methodsThree databases were surveyed and 328 articles were identified. Of these, 225 articles did not meet inclusion criteria; therefore, 97 full-text article were reviewed. Finally, after further revision, 30 articles were included in the systematic review and 28 were used for meta-analysis.
resultsTwenty-eight studies were identified involving 119,883 patients. The mean age of the patients was 38.37 years (95% CI 36.72-40.03) and males comprised 21.4% (95% CI 12.4-34.2) of the population of HCW. The percentage of HCW who tested positive for COVID-19 was 51.7% (95% CI 34.7-68.2). The total prevalence of comorbidities in seven studies was 18.4% (95% CI 15.5-21.7). The most prevalent symptoms were fever 27.5% (95% CI 17.6-40.3) and cough 26.1% (95% CI 18.1-36). The prevalence of hospitalisation was 15.1% (95% CI 5.6-35) in 13 studies and of death was 1.5% (95% CI 0.5-3.9) in 12 studies. Comparisons of HCW with and without infection showed an increased relative risk for COVID-19 related to personal protective equipment, workplace setting, profession, exposure, contacts, and testing.
conclusionA significant number of HCW were reported to be infected with COVID-19 during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a prevalence of hospitalisation of 15.1% and mortality of 1.5%. Further data are needed to track the continued risks in HCW as the pandemic evolves and health systems adapt.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.