Journal of Infection and Public Health (Aug 2023)
Self-reported long COVID-19 symptoms are rare among vaccinated healthcare workers
- Salma AlBahrani,
- Ali AlBarrak,
- Nawal AlGubaisi,
- Hamoud Alkurdi,
- Dalia Alburaiki,
- Abdulrahaman AlGhamdi,
- Mohammed AlOthaiqy,
- Sarah Tayeb,
- Nesreen Tayeb,
- Salimah Abdraboh,
- Amani Khairi,
- Lujain Alshareef,
- Asma AlHarbi,
- Saad AlRabeeah,
- Abdullah S. Alqahtani,
- Jaber S. Alqahtani,
- Fatimah Hassan Hakami,
- Thekra N. Al-Maqati,
- Sausan Abdulrahman Alkhrashi,
- Meshael Musaed Almershad,
- Asmaa AlAbbadi,
- Mariam Hassan Hakami,
- Osama Faqihi,
- Kauthar Jaffar A. Altawfiq,
- Arulanantham Zachariah Jebakumar,
- Jaffar A. Al-Tawfiq
Affiliations
- Salma AlBahrani
- Infectious Disease Unit, Specialty Internal Medicine, King Fahd Military Medical Complex, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
- Ali AlBarrak
- Infectious disease division, Internal Medicine Department, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Nawal AlGubaisi
- Internal Medicine Department, King Fahd Military Medical Complex, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
- Hamoud Alkurdi
- Respiratory therapy department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Dalia Alburaiki
- Respiratory therapy department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Abdulrahaman AlGhamdi
- Respiratory therapy department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Mohammed AlOthaiqy
- Respiratory therapy department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Sarah Tayeb
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Nesreen Tayeb
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Salimah Abdraboh
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Amani Khairi
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Lujain Alshareef
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Asma AlHarbi
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Saad AlRabeeah
- Department of Respiratory care, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Abdullah S. Alqahtani
- Department of Respiratory care, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Jaber S. Alqahtani
- Department of Respiratory care, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Fatimah Hassan Hakami
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Thekra N. Al-Maqati
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Sausan Abdulrahman Alkhrashi
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Meshael Musaed Almershad
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Asmaa AlAbbadi
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Mariam Hassan Hakami
- Infection Control Department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Osama Faqihi
- Respiratory therapy department, King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dharan, Saudi Arabia
- Kauthar Jaffar A. Altawfiq
- Al-Faisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Arulanantham Zachariah Jebakumar
- Vice deanship of postgraduate studies and Research, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
- Jaffar A. Al-Tawfiq
- Infectious Disease Unit, Specialty Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Infectious Disease Division, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; Infectious Disease Division, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Correspondence to: Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia.
- Journal volume & issue
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Vol. 16,
no. 8
pp. 1276 – 1280
Abstract
Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected healthcare workers (HCWs). Here, we evaluate the occurence of long-COVID-19 symtoms among HCWs. Methods: This is a questionnaire-based study of HCWs who had COVID-19 in two medical centers in Saudi Arabia and were mostly vaccinated. Results: The study included 243 HCWs with a mean age (+ SD) of 36.1 (+ 7.6) years. Of them, 223 (91.8%) had three doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 12 (4.9%) had four doses, and 5 (2.1%) had two doses. The most common symptoms at the start of the illness were cough (180, 74.1%), shortness of breath (124, 51%), muscle ache (117, 48.1%), headache (113, 46.5%), sore throat (111, 45.7%), diarrhea (109, 44.9%) and loss of taste (108, 44.4%). Symptoms lasted for one week and 2 months and 3 months in 15 (6.2%). The main symptoms present> 3 months were hair loss (8, 3.3%), cough (5, 2.1%), and diarrhea (5, 2.1%). A binomial regression analysis showed no relationship between persistence of symptoms for> 3 months and other demographic or clinical symptoms characteristics. Conclusion: The study showed a low rate of the occurence of long-COVID> 3 months during the Omicron-wave among mostly vaccinated HCWs with no significant comorbidities. Furhter studies are needed to examine the effect of different vaccines on long-COVID-19 among HCWs.
