Table I.
Study participants, acute care hospital healthcare personnel, Canada, 2010/11–2013/14
| Cases (N=814) |
All controls (N=9005) |
Matched controlsa (N=3244) |
P-valueb | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age in years, median (IQR) | 42 (34–50) | 45 (34–52) | 45 (35–52) | 0.79 |
| Sex | 0.57 | |||
| Female | 732 (89.9) | 7795 (86.6) | 2821 (87.0) | |
| Male | 82 (10.1) | 1210 (13.4) | 423 (13.0) | |
| Occupation | 0.19 | |||
| Nurse | 324 (39.8) | 3375 (37.5) | 1228 (37.8) | |
| Physician | 56 (6.9) | 501 (5.6) | 160 (4.9) | |
| Allied health staffc | 161 (19.8) | 1293 (14.4) | 505 (15.6) | |
| Support services staffc | 273 (33.5) | 3836 (42.6) | 1351 (41.6) | |
| Years working in profession, median (IQR) | 12 (6–24) | 13 (5–25) | 13 (5–24) | 0.97 |
| Hours worked per week, median (IQR) | 40 (37.5–40) | 40 (37.5–44) | 40 (37.5–43) | 0.42 |
| Asthma, self-report | 137 (16.8) | 1092 (12.1) | 381 (11.7) | 0.57 |
| Influenza vaccination, current season | 634 (77.9) | 6980 (77.5) | 2482 (76.5) | 0.23 |
| Housemates, median (IQR) | 2 (1, 3) | 2 (1, 3) | 2 (1, 3) | 0.26 |
| Close social contacts/week, median (IQR) | 10 (5–20) | 10 (5–20) | 10 (5–20) | 0.46 |
| Smoking habits | 0.19 | |||
| Never | 557 (68.4) | 6176 (68.6) | 2221 (68.5) | |
| Former | 197 (24.2) | 1984 (22.0) | 749 (23.1) | |
| Current (occasional or daily) | 59 (7.2) | 838 (9.3) | 273 (8.4) | |
| Hands-to-face habit | 552 (67.8) | 5746 (63.8) | 2088 (64.4) | 0.64 |
| Use refillable water bottle | 737 (90.5) | 7844 (87.1) | 2823 (87.0) | 0.90 |
| Hours of sleep per 24 h, median (IQR) | 7 (6–7) | 7 (6–7) | 7 (6, 7) | 0.73 |
| Reported stress level | 0.84 | |||
| Not at all/a bit | 556 (68.3) | 6139 (68.2) | 2218 (68.4) | |
| Quite a bit/extreme | 258 (31.7) | 2866 (31.8) | 1026 (31.6) | |
| Home handwashing, number per day, median (IQR) | 8 (5–10) | 8 (5–10) | 7 (5–10) | 0.72 |
| Physical contact with patientsd | 432 (53.1) | 4222 (46.9) | 1526 (47.0) | 0.88 |
| Protective equipment usee | 0.95 | |||
| Limited | 87 (10.7) | 1021 (11.4) | 367 (11.3) | |
| Partial | 201 (24.7) | 1807 (20.1) | 648 (20.0) | |
| Full | 278 (34.2) | 3077 (34.3) | 1128 (34.8) | |
| Not applicable (no exposure to patients with FRI) | 246 (30.3) | 3077 (34.3) | 1096 (33.8) | |
ARI, acute respiratory illness; FRI, febrile respiratory illness; IQR, interquartile range.
Cases were matched to four controls from the same hospital site and study week (±1 week).
P-value comparing all vs matched controls.
Allied health: technologists, pharmacists, therapists, social workers, others. Support services: administrative, patient attendants, housekeeping, others.
Direct physical contact with patients was more commonly reported by physician (90%), nursing (79%), and allied health (58%) staff than by support staff (11%) (P<0.001).
Limited: occasional use of surgical mask or N95 respirator, gloves and hand hygiene after contact. Partial: usually/always use surgical mask or N95 respirator, gloves and hand hygiene after contact. Full: usually/always use surgical mask or N95 respirator, gloves and hand hygiene after contact plus goggles/eye protection.