The role of occupation in SARS‐CoV‐2 infection within a Brazilian municipality: A test‐negative case‐control study

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the association between occupation and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) infections within a Brazilian municipality.MethodsIn this test‐negative study, cases and controls were randomly selected among individuals aged 18−65 years that were registered in a primary health care program in São Caetano do Sul, Brazil. Those who had collected samples for RT‐PCR testing between April 2020 and May 2021 were randomly selected to compose the case (positive for SARS‐CoV‐2) and control (negative for SARS‐CoV‐2) groups, frequency‐matched by sex, age group, and month of sample collection. Complementary data were collected through phone interviews. We estimated the residual effect of occupation on SARS‐CoV‐2 infection using multiple conditional logistic regression models incrementally adjusted for confounding variables.Results1724 cases and 1741 controls who reported being at work at the time of RT‐PCR collection were included. Cases were mainly females (52.9%), Whites/Asians (73.3%), and unvaccinated against COVID‐19 (46.6%). Compared to other university‐level professionals, the highest odds of having COVID‐19 were found for workers in police and protective services (odds ratio [OR] 2.21; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.27−3.84), healthcare and caregiving (OR 1.90; 95% CI 1.34−2.68), and food retail and production (OR 1.88; 95% CI = 1.14−3.11), after adjustment for age, sex, education, means of transport, household crowding, and COVID‐19 vaccination.ConclusionOccupation played an important role in SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Food retail and production, health care and caregiving, and police and protective services showed the highest odds of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection.