UK healthcare workers seven times more likely to develop severe coronavirus during first lockdown, study finds

Those working on the front lines against coronavirus during the UK’s first lockdown were up to seven times more likely to become severely infected, new research suggests.

A University of Glasgow-led study of more than 120,000 employees aged 49 to 64 indicated that those in healthcare roles were seven times more likely to be hospitalised or killed with the virus. 

And those with jobs in the social care and transport sectors were found to be twice as likely to suffer such outcomes, which the researchers said emphasises the need to ensure that key workers are adequately protected against infection.

The results, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, also suggest that ethnicity is a key factor in the development of severe Covid-19 – with researchers finding that the risk of severe infection for black and Asian non-essential workers were similar to those for white essential workers.

The researchers drew on coronavirus test results from Public Health England, recorded deaths between 16 March and 26 July, and linked data from the UK Biobank study (2006-10) – which tracks the factors potentially influencing the development of disease in some 500,000 middle-aged and older individuals.

Of the more than 120,000 employees studied, 29 per cent were classified as essential workers. 

Eleven per cent worked in social care and education, while nine per cent held healthcare roles and the same proportion were classified as having “other” essential employment – such as policing, transport and food preparation.

Those of black and Asian ethnicities comprised nearly 3 per cent each of the total. They were more likely to be essential workers, as were women.

In all, 271 employees had severe Covid-19 infection. 

All categories of key workers studied were more likely to develop severe infection – from medical support staff, who were nearly nine times as likely, to those whose roles fell into the “other” category, who were 60 per cent more likely.

And looking at the impact of ethnicity, they found that somehow the risks of severe infection for black and Asian non-essential workers were similar to those for white workers on the front lines.

Black and Asian non-essential workers were also more than three times – rising to eight for those in key roles – as likely to develop severe infection as white non-essential workers.

With the exception of transport workers, for whom heightened risk of severe infection was linked to socioeconomic status, the findings held true even after accounting for potentially influential risk factors, including lifestyle, co-existing health problems, and work patterns.

The authors noted that the study is observational and therefore cannot establish cause. 

They also acknowledged that the UK Biobank data was collected more than a decade ago, and so any changes in health, lifestyle, income and employment status were unable to be accounted for.

Nor were the researchers able to take account of the changes in risk over time, such as the availability of personal protective equipment. Nevertheless, the findings echo those of other studies, they said.

“Our findings reinforce the need for adequate health and safety arrangements and provision of PPE for essential workers, especially in the health and social care sectors,” they said. 

“The health and wellbeing of essential workers is critical to limiting the spread and managing the burden of global pandemics.”