The International Registry of Healthcare Workers Exposed to COVID-19 Patients (UNITY Global), is an international registry of approximately 10,000 healthcare workers in low- and middle-income countries experiencing increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases and commensurate increased exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus among their healthcare worker populations.
The registry will enrol HCWs who are experiencing or are expected to experience ongoing and recurrent close contact with confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 patients. Recruitment for the registry will aim to enrol a representative distribution of HCWs on the front lines of diagnosing and caring for COVID-19 patients in both hospitals and community settings, as well as a balanced sample of HCWs receiving the most commonly administered putatively prophylactic drug regimens. The registry will collect information on a weekly basis from HCWs across a 12-week period following their first known exposure to confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 patients prior to or within 30 days after enrollment. Data collection will include the drug regimens being taken by the HCWs, information about their level of exposure to COVID-19 patients, their personal health status, and other factors such as the use of PPE which would likely impact their risk of developing a SARS-CoV-2 infection. A standard pharmaco-epidemiological inferential analysis will be conducted treating the registry data as a cohort with dynamic exposure to both prophylactic treatment and to COVID-19 infected patients and adjusting for potential confounding. Crude and adjusted hazards ratios will be estimated for each of the prophylactic regimens of interest and any observed impact on the risk of infection among HCWs based on all statistical inferential models will be reported
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
6,808
This is a comparative observational cohort study; therefore, no preventive interventions, visits or laboratory tests are mandated. Dosing and duration of potential prophylactic treatment is at the discretion of the institution and/or healthcare provider, in accordance with regular local practice. However, serology testing for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies will be offered to the first 50% of participating HCWs per country, at enrollment and at the last follow-up (i.e. at Week 12)
Aga Khan University
Karachi, Pakistan
Occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCWs caring for COVID-19 patients, in terms of time, geography, healthcare setting, type of HCW.
Assess the association of potential prophylactic treatments with reduced risk of COVID-19 (or SARS-CoV-2 infection) in HCWs caring for COVID-19 patients
Time frame: 12 weeks
Occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 uninfected HCWs
Subjects reporting "No" clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 or positive test results.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection with ambulatory status and no limitation of activities
Subjects reporting COVID-19 related symptoms, clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 or positive test results but reporting "No" limitation of activities due to their symptoms and no hospitalization.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection with ambulatory status and limitation of activities
Subjects reporting COVID-19 symptoms, clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 or positive test results and reporting "Yes" to having their usual activities limited being limited due to their symptoms, but no hospitalization.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Occurrence of hospitalization due to COVID-19 illness with mild disease
Subjects being hospitalised without being admitted to the ICU or without ventilation.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Occurrence of hospitalization due to COVID-19 illness with severe disease
Subjects being hospitalised with either admittance to the ICU and/or receiving ventilation.
Time frame: 12 weeks
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Occurrence of all-cause mortality
Assess occurrence of all-cause mortality.
Time frame: 12 weeks
Type of prophylactic treatments by dose, frequency and duration, overall and by country/region/site
Assess the association between prophylactic treatments and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HCWs caring for COVID-19 patients.
Time frame: 12 weeks