COVID-19 among health care workers in Brazil: prevalence and disparities based on respondent-driven sampling

Autores/as

  • Ligia Kerr Universidade Federal do Ceará image/svg+xml
  • Marto Leal Universidade Federal do Ceará image/svg+xml
  • Rosa Lívia Freitas Almeida Universidade Federal do Ceará image/svg+xml
  • Ana Zaira da Silva Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco image/svg+xml
  • Cristiane Cunha Frota Universidade Federal do Ceará image/svg+xml
  • Luana Nepomuceno Gondim Costa Lima Instituto Evandro Chagas image/svg+xml
  • Luciane Nascimento Cruz Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Avaliação de Tecnologia em Saúde. Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil
  • Maria de Fátima Militão de Albuquerque Fundação Oswaldo Cruz image/svg+xml
  • Mirian Cohen Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul image/svg+xml
  • Ricardo Arraes de Alencar Ximenes Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul image/svg+xml
  • Wayner Vieira de Souza Fundação Oswaldo Cruz image/svg+xml
  • Maria Amélia de Sousa Mascena Veras Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo image/svg+xml
  • José Luis Gomes Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de São Paulo image/svg+xml
  • Roberto da Justa Pires Neto Universidade Federal do Ceará image/svg+xml
  • Marli Teresinha Gimeniz Galvão Universidade Federal do Ceará image/svg+xml
  • Patrícia Neyva da Costa Pinheiro Universidade Federal do Ceará image/svg+xml
  • Ulisses Ramos Montarroyos Universidade Federal de Pernambuco image/svg+xml
  • Cresio Romeu Pereira Ministério da Saúde image/svg+xml
  • Demócrito de Barros Miranda-Filho Universidade Federal de Pernambuco image/svg+xml
  • Paulo Roberto Borges de Souza Junior Fundação Oswaldo Cruz image/svg+xml
  • Thália Velho Barreto de Araújo Universidade Federal de Pernambuco image/svg+xml
  • Pedro Miguel dos Santos Neto Fundação Oswaldo Cruz image/svg+xml
  • Cynthia Braga Fundação Oswaldo Cruz image/svg+xml
  • Celina Maia Turchi Martelli Fundação Oswaldo Cruz image/svg+xml
  • Carl Kendall Universidade Federal do Ceará image/svg+xml

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/s15188787.2025059006959

Palabras clave:

Health Workers, COVID-19, Brazil, Prevalence, Disparities, Respondent-Driven Sampling

Resumen

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and disparities of COVID-19 among health care workers in Brazil. METHODS: A survey was conducted among health care workers in five Brazilian cities. Disparities in the prevalence of COVID-19 were analyzed by professional category and region (North/Northeast versus South/Southeast). RESULTS: The sample was composed of 2,499 health care workers: 601 (24.1%) nursing technicians, 1,095 (43.8%) registered nurses, and 803 (32.1%) physicians. Recruitment and data collection were conducted online from May 21, 2020, to February 10, 2021, using  respondent-driven sampling. The overall COVID-19 prevalence was 48.1% (95%CI: 43.4–52.9).  The highest COVID-19 prevalence was identified among nursing technicians (52.8%; 95%CI: 44.4–61.0). Nursing technicians reported undergoing fewer PCR and COVID-19 tests compared to physicians. Nursing technicians and registered nurses in the North/Northeast regions who reported COVID-19 symptoms spent much of the first year of the pandemic without access to confirmatory testing. Furthermore, the risk of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 was significantly lower for all occupational categories in the North and Northeast regions. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 rates among health care workers were exceptionally high and non-uniformly distributed. This mirrors the vast socioeconomic, cultural, and political differences and the difficulty in coordinating pandemic control actions in Brazil.

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Publicado

2025-12-15

Número

Vol. 59 (2025)

Sección

Artigos Originais

Licencia

Derechos de autor 2025 Ligia Kerr, Marto Leal, Rosa Lívia Freitas Almeida, Ana Zaira da Silva, Cristiane Cunha Frota, Luana Nepomuceno Gondim Costa Lima, Luciane Nascimento Cruz, Maria de Fátima Militão de Albuquerque, Mirian Cohen, Ricardo Arraes de Alencar Ximenes, Wayner Vieira de Souza, Maria Amélia de Sousa Mascena Veras, José Luis Gomes, Roberto da Justa Pires Neto, Marli Teresinha Gimeniz Galvão, Patrícia Neyva da Costa Pinheiro, Ulisses Ramos Montarroyos, Cresio Romeu Pereira, Demócrito de Barros Miranda-Filho, Paulo Roberto Borges de Souza Junior, Thália Velho Barreto de Araújo, Pedro Miguel dos Santos Neto, Cynthia Braga, Celina Maia Turchi Martelli, Carl Kendall

Creative Commons License

Esta obra está bajo una licencia internacional Creative Commons Atribución 4.0.

Datos de los fondos

Cómo citar

Kerr, L., Leal, M., Almeida, R. L. F., Silva, A. Z. da, Frota, C. C., Lima, L. N. G. C., Cruz, L. N., Albuquerque, M. de F. M. de, Cohen, M., Ximenes, R. A. de A., Souza, W. V. de, Veras, M. A. de S. M., Gomes, J. L., Neto, R. da J. P., Galvão, M. T. G., Pinheiro, P. N. da C., Montarroyos, U. R., Pereira, C. R., Miranda-Filho, D. de B., … Kendall, C. (2025). COVID-19 among health care workers in Brazil: prevalence and disparities based on respondent-driven sampling. Revista De Saúde Pública, 59, 51. https://doi.org/10.11606/s15188787.2025059006959