SynthesisJournal of clinical nursing2022
Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of clinical nursing, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among nurses: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of clinical nursing · 2022Pooled it
- Use of personal protective equipment among nurses in the pre- and post-COVID-19 vaccination periods.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2025Article
- The Prevalence and Correlates of Internet Addiction in India as Assessed by Young's Internet Addiction Test: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2024Review
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and working conditions of nurses and its implications for policies: a cross-sectional study in Slovakia.BMC nursing · 2023Article
- Sources of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exposure among healthcare personnel (HCP) in a large tertiary-care medical center.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2023Article
- Risk of Secondary Household Transmission of COVID-19 from Health Care Workers in a Hospital in Spain.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
AIMS AND
objectivesThis systematic review and meta-analysis reports the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among nurses.
backgroundWith a growing body of literature reporting the positive serology for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among healthcare workers, it remains unclear whether staff at the point of direct patient care are more prone to developing and transmitting the virus. Given nurses make up the majority of the global health workforce, outbreaks among these workers could severely undermine a health system's capability to manage the pandemic. We aimed to summarise and report the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among nurses globally.
designSystematic review and meta-analyses.
methodsThis systematic review was developed, undertaken and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline. We searched the electronic medical literature databases: MEDLINE; CINAHL; and EMBASE for studies reporting the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among nursing staff. Studies that reported nursing specific data were included in this review. Study quality was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for studies reporting prevalence data. Studies were stratified according to the World Health Organisation region classifications, and results were presented using forest plots and summary prevalence and variance was estimated using a random effects model.
resultsOur electronic search identified 1687 potential studies, of which 1148 were screened for eligibility after duplicates were removed, and 51 of the studies were included in our meta-analysis. The overall seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among nurses was estimated to be 8.1% (95% CI 6.9%-9.4%) among the 60,571 participants included in the studies. Seropositivity was highest in the African region (48.2%, 95% CI 39.2%-57.3%), followed by the European region (10.3%, 95% CI 8.0%-12.5%), the Region of the Americas (8.4%, 95% CI 6.0%-10.7%), the South-East Asia region (3.0%, 95% CI 0.00%-6.5%) and the Western Pacific region (0.5%, 95% CI 0.0%-1.0%). Pooled estimates were unable to be calculated in the Eastern Mediterranean region due to insufficient studies.
conclusionThe seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among nurses is comparable to other healthcare workers, and possibly similar to the general population. Early adoption and adherence to personal protective equipment and social distancing measures could explain these similarities, meaning the majority of staff contracted the virus through community transmission and not in a healthcare setting. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Fear and uncertainty have been features of this pandemic, including among nurses. This meta-analysis should provide some comfort to nurses that risks are similar to community exposure when adequate PPE is available and there is an adherence to infection control measures.
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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.