Life (May 2024)

SARS-CoV-2 Positivity in Foreign-Born Adults: A Retrospective Study in Verona, Northeast Italy

  • Virginia Lotti,
  • Gianluca Spiteri,
  • Gulser Caliskan,
  • Maria Grazia Lourdes Monaco,
  • Davide Gibellini,
  • Giuseppe Verlato,
  • Stefano Porru

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/life14060663
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 6
p. 663

Abstract

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We compared SARS-CoV-2 positivity between the foreign-born adult working population and Italians living in the Verona area to investigate whether being a foreign-born adult could confer an increased risk of infection or lead to a diagnostic delay. The present study included 105,774 subjects, aged 18–65 years, tested for SARS-CoV-2 by nasopharyngeal swabs and analyzed at the University Hospital of Verona between January 2020 and September 2022. A logistic regression model was used, controlling for gender, age, time of sampling, and source of referral. A higher proportion of SARS-CoV-2 positivity in Italian (30.09%) than in foreign-born (25.61%) adults was reported, with a higher proportion of SARS-CoV-2 positivity in men than women in both cohorts analyzed. The difference in swab positivity among Italian and foreign-born adults was the highest in people aged 18–29 years (31.5% vs. 23.3%) and tended to disappear thereafter. Swab positivity became comparable between Italian and foreign-born adults during the vaccination campaign. Multivariable analysis confirmed the lower risk of swab positivity among foreign-born adults (OR = 0.85, 95% CI 0.82–0.89). In the Verona area, foreign-born adults showed a lower rate of SARS-CoV-2 positivity than the native population, likely because of underdiagnosis. Hence, public health should increase attention toward these particularly vulnerable populations.

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