Seroprevalence of COVID-19 among health workers in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: a longitudinal cohort study

Authors

  • Kiran Raj Pandey Department of Internal and Preventive Medicine, HAMS Hospital, Kathmandu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8277-766X
  • Aseem Bhattarai Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu
  • Suman Pant Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu
  • Rimmy Barakoti Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu
  • Janaki Pandey Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu
  • Anup Subedee Hospital for Advanced Medicine and Surgery, Kathmandu
  • Prabhat Adhikari Danphe Care, Kathmandu
  • Diptesh Aryal Nepal Critical Care Research Foundation, Kathmandu
  • Prakash Jyoti Pokharel Civil Service Hospital, Kathmandu
  • Gentle Sunder Shrestha Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu and Alka Hospital, Lalitpur
  • Kamal Pandit B.P. Koirala Lions Center For Ophthalmic Studies, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
  • Narendra Timalsina Nepal Mediciti Hospital, Nakhkhu, Lalitpur
  • Sameer Thapa Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital, Attarkhel, Gokarneshwor-8, Kathmandu
  • Roshan Parajuli Armed Police Force Hospital, Kathmandu
  • Pradip Gyanwali Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3126/nmcj.v24i3.48592

Keywords:

COVID-19, seroprevalence, health workers, Nepal

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) burden, often underestimated by case-based incidence reports, can be accurately estimated by measuring the population that has developed antibodies following an infection. Here, we report the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies among health workers in Kathmandu, Nepal. This seroepidemiology of COVID-19 was a longitudinal survey of hospital-based health workers working in 20 hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley. A total of 800 participants were chosen in December 2020 by a two-stage cluster-stratified random sampling method and administered a questionnaire eliciting COVID-19 related history. A blood sample was also obtained from the participants and tested for COVID-19 IgG antibodies using a Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (CLIA). We then used a probabilistic multilevel regression model with post-stratification to correct for test accuracy, the effect of hospital-based clustering, and to ensure representativeness. The final analytic sample included 800 participants; 522 (65.2%) of them were female, 372 (46%) were between ages 18-29, 287 (36%) were nurses. Of the total 800, 321 (40.1%) individuals tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. Adjusted for test accuracy and health-worker population, the seroprevalence was 38.2% (95% Credible Interval (CrI) 29.26%–47.82%). Posterior predictive hospital-wise seroprevalence ranged between 38.1% (95% CrI 30.7.0%–44.1%) and 40.5% (95% CrI 34.7%–47.0%). Our study suggested that about two in five health workers in the Kathmandu Valley were seropositive against SARS-CoV-2 by December 2020; a substantial proportion of them did not have a documented infection.

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Published

2022-09-28

How to Cite

Pandey, K. R., Bhattarai, A., Pant, S., Barakoti, R., Pandey, J., Subedee, A., Adhikari, P., Aryal, D., Pokharel, P. J., Shrestha, G. S., Pandit, K., Timalsina, N., Thapa, S., Parajuli, R., & Gyanwali, P. (2022). Seroprevalence of COVID-19 among health workers in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: a longitudinal cohort study. Nepal Medical College Journal, 24(3), 197–205. https://doi.org/10.3126/nmcj.v24i3.48592

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Section

Original Articles