TY - JOUR AU - Ehsan, Ambreen AU - Zubair, Maryam AU - Shabir, Nosheena Akhtar AU - Pirzada, Hina AU - Yaqoob, Umairah AU - Islam, Abida AU - Hanif, Shafaq AU - Azeem, Zahid AU - Awan, Zahid Iqbal AU - Ubaid, Muhammad Furqan PY - 2022/06/30 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - IMPACT OF SARS-COV-2 ON FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN AZAD KASHMIR: A MULTICENTRE SURVEY JF - Pakistan Journal of Physiology JA - Pak J Phsyiol VL - 18 IS - 2 SE - Original Article DO - UR - https://pjp.pps.org.pk/index.php/PJP/article/view/1378 SP - 58-61 AB - <p>Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are especially prone to contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection due to their work requirements. This study was conducted to analyze the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 infection among frontline healthcare workers and various predictive factors of this infection in healthcare workers. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Data was collected at Obs/Gyn Department, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (SKBZ)/Combined Military Hospital Muzaffarabad, from Main Covid-19 Pandemic Data Collection and Information Centre, Muzaffarabad, from 15<sup>th</sup> April to 14<sup>th</sup> October 2021. Screening was offered to healthcare professionals and other supporting staff of all hospitals dealing with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Information was recorded on a structured questionnaire. Categorical variable were explained by frequency. Fischer exact test and ?<sup>2</sup> test were used, and <em>p</em>&lt;0.05 were considered significant. Results: There are 4,776 healthcare workers in AJK. A total of 2,219 individuals were COVID positive, out of them 118 were healthcare workers. Males were 53% and females were 47%; 77% of cases were aged 25?50 years. Physicians were 51.7% outnumbering nurses and allied staff. The cumulative incidence was 2.4%. Infection rate among frontline HCWs was 1%; it was 1.6 among HCWs in other departments, and 0.5% in HCWs with no patient contact. The rate of co-morbidities in affected HCWs was 33.05%. Conclusion: The risk of disease was high among frontline healthcare workers as compared to general population. The severity of infection was more in patients with co-morbidities. Among HCWs, the highest number of patients with COVID-19 were physicians.</p><p><strong>Pak J Physiol 2022;</strong>18(2):58–61</p> ER -