EVALUATION OF POST-COVID-19 RESPIRATORY IMPAIRMENT IN HEALTHCARE WORKERS | ||
| Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine | ||
| Article 5, Volume 47, Issue 1, January 2023, Pages 65-78 PDF (606.09 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejom.2022.136456.1275 | ||
| Authors | ||
| El-Sherif GH; El-Shafy WS; Teleb HS | ||
| Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Introduction: Healthcare workers have an increased risk of COVID- 19 infection either due to their contact with infectious known cases, or due to exposure to subclinical or undiagnosed patients. In cases of mild to moderate pneumonia, the pulmonary function tests (PFTs) should be carried out following abnormal chest x-rays. Aim of Work: To evaluate the respiratory impairment in healthcare workers after COVID-19 infection using chest X-ray and pulmonary function tests in relation to their age and disease duration. Materials and Methods: The study included 87 healthcare workers at El- Nasr Hospital for Health Insurance, Helwan, Cairo. They all had recovered from a proved COVID-19 infection 3 months at least prior to the assessment. The studied group was subjected to full medical and occupational history taking, plain chest X-ray, pulmonary function testing and Whole Person Impairment (WPI) rating using American Medical Association Guides, 5th Edition, 2000. Results: the mean age of the studied group was 41.26 years, most of them were females (87.3%) and 52.9% were nurses, 88.5% had respiratory impairment. X-Ray findings were detected in 94.2%, mainly in the form of reticulonodular opacities (58%), most commonly affecting both lungs (95.1%), mainly the basal parts (51%). The mean FVC of the studied group is 64.12% of predicted indicating moderate restrictive ventilatory impairment. WPI classification showed that about half of the patients have class 3 respiratory impairment. Conclusion and Recommendations: Evaluation WPI using pulmonary functions should be done for healthcare workers after recovery from COVID-19 infection and before they return to work in order to determine their ability to practice their jobs. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| COVID-19; Healthcare workers; Whole Person Impairment (WPI) rating; Pulmonary functions and Chest X-ray | ||
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