COVID-19 among staff and their family members of a healthcare research institution in Bangladesh between March 2020 and April 2021: a test-negative case–control study

Abstract

Objective <br/>To identify factors associated with COVID- 19 positivity among staff and their family members of icddr,b, a health research institute located in Bangladesh. <br/><br/>Setting <br/>Dhaka, Bangladesh. <br/><br/>Participants <br/>A total of 4295 symptomatic people were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by reverse-transcription PCR between 19 March 2020 and 15 April 2021. Multivariable <br/>logistic regression was done to identify the factors associated with COVID- 19 positivity by contrasting test positives with test negatives.<br/><br/>Result <br/>Forty-three per cent of the participants were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The median age was high in positive cases (37 years vs 34 years). Among <br/>the positive cases, 97% were recovered, 2.1% had reinfections, 24 died and 41 were active cases as of 15 April 2021. Multivariable regression analysis showed that age more than 60 years (adjusted OR (aOR)=2.1, 95% CI 1.3 to 3.3; pwere tested negative.<br/><br/>Conclusions <br/>The study findings suggest that older age, fever, cough and anosmia were associated with COVID- 19 among the study participants.