Epidemiological Predictors of Positive SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase Chain Reaction Test in Three Cohorts: Hospitalized Patients, Healthcare Workers, and Military Population, Serbia, 2020

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2023-02, Vol.20 (4), p.3601
• Main Authors: Šuljagić, Vesna, Đurić-Petković, Danijela, Lazić, Srđan, Mladenović, Jovan, Rakonjac, Bojan, Opačić, Dolores, Ljubenović, Nenad, Milojković, Biljana, Radojević, Katarina, Nenezić, Ivana, Rančić, Nemanja
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arthralgia; Availability; Chronic illnesses; Comparative analysis; Confidence intervals; Consent; Contact; Coronaviruses; Cough; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing; COVID-19 Vaccines; Data collection; Diagnosis; Disease transmission; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Fever; Headache; Health aspects; Health care; Health Personnel; Hospital patients; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Infections; Medical personnel; Military Personnel; Myalgia; Nervous system diseases; Neurological diseases; Pandemics; Pandemics - prevention & control; Personal protective equipment; Political activity; Political aspects; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Population; Preventive medicine; Public health; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Retrospective Studies; Risk factors; SARS-CoV-2; Serbia; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Vaccines; Workers
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20043601

(1) Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its resulting coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a fast-moving pandemic. Diagnostic testing, aimed to identify patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, plays a key role in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in different populations. (2) Methods: This retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate predictors associated with positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) SARS-CoV-2 test results in hospitalized patients, healthcare workers (HCWs), and military personnel (MP) during 2020, before the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines. Persons with a positive test result were compared with persons with a negative test result in three cohorts during the study period. (3) Results: A total of 6912 respondents were tested, and 1334 (19.3%) of them had positive PCR SARS-CoV-2 test results. Contact with a known COVID-19 case within 14 days ( < 0.001; OR: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.25-1.76), fever ( < 0.001; OR: 3.66; 95% CI: 3.04-4.41), cough ( < 0.001; OR: 1.91; 95% CI: 1.59-2.30), headache ( = 0.028; OR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.02-1.50), and myalgia/arthralgia ( < 0.001; OR: 1.99; 95% CI: 1.65-2.42) were independently associated with positive PCR SARS-CoV-2 test results in the cohort of MP. Furthermore, fever ( < 0.001; OR: 2.75; 95% CI: 1.83-4.13), cough ( < 0.001; OR: 2.04; 95% CI: 1.32-3.13), headache ( = 0.008; OR: 1.76; 95% CI: 1.15-2.68), and myalgia/arthralgia ( = 0.039; OR: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.02-2.45) were independently associated with positive PCR SARS-CoV-2 test results in the cohort of HCWs. Moreover, independent predictors of positive PCR SARS-CoV-2 test results in hospitalized patients were contact with a known COVID-19 case within 14 days ( < 0.001; OR: 2.56; 95% CI: 1.71-3.83), fever ( < 0.001; OR: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.38-2.59), pneumonia ( = 0.041; OR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.01-2.09), and neurological diseases ( = 0.009; OR: 0.375; 95% CI: 0.18-0.78). (4) Conclusions: According to data gathered from cohorts of hospitalized patients, HCWs, and MP, before the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines in Serbia, we can conclude that predictors of positive PCR SARS-CoV-2 test results in MP and HCWs were similar. Accurate estimates of COVID-19 in different population groups are important for health authorities.