Dietary habits, traveling and the living situation potentially influence the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection: results from healthcare workers participating in the RisCoin Study.

PURPOSE: To explore occupational and non-occupational risk and protective factors for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in healthcare workers (HCWs).

METHODS: Serum specimens and questionnaire data were obtained between October 7 and December 16, 2021 from COVID-19-vaccinated HCWs at a quaternary care hospital in Munich, Germany, and were analyzed in the RisCoin Study.

RESULTS: Of 3,696 participants evaluated, 6.6% have had COVID-19 at least once. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified working in patient care occupations (7.3% had COVID-19, 95% CI 6.4-8.3, Pr  = 0.0002), especially as nurses, to be a potential occupation-related COVID-19 risk factor. Non-occupational factors significantly associated with high rates of the disease were contacts to COVID-19 cases in the community (12.8% had COVID-19, 95% CI 10.3-15.8, Pr  < 0.0001), being obese (9.9% had COVID-19, 95% CI 7.1-13.5, Pr  = 0.0014), and frequent traveling abroad (9.4% had COVID-19, 95% CI 7.1-12.3, Pr  = 0.0088). On the contrary, receiving the basic COVID-19 immunization early during the pandemic (5.9% had COVID-19, 95% CI 5.1-6.8, Pr  < 0.0001), regular smoking (3.6% had COVID-19, 95% CI 2.1-6.0, Pr  = 0.0088), living with the elderly (3.0% had COVID-19, 95% CI 1.0-8.0, Pr  = 0.0475), and frequent consumption of ready-to-eat meals (2.6% had COVID-19, 95% CI 1.1-5.4, Pr  = 0.0045) were non-occupational factors potentially protecting study participants against COVID-19.

CONCLUSION: The newly discovered associations between the living situation, traveling as well as dietary habits and altered COVID-19 risk can potentially help refine containment measures and, furthermore, contribute to new mechanistic insights that may aid the protection of risk groups and vulnerable individuals.