COVID-19 monitoring in workers at a Brazilian public university: a retrospective cohort study

Introduction: primary care action strategies are relevant for disease prevention and health promotion, as well as for the initial management of suspected cases and the individual monitoring of patients with confirmed diagnoses of COVID-19. This study aimed to evaluate the outcome of clinical worsening and demographic, occupational, and clinical variables of workers with COVID-19 in a community health center at a public university in southeastern Brazil. Methods: a retrospective cohort study was conducted with 1,459 symptomatic workers with COVID-19. Data were extracted from the database of the unit’s epidemiological surveillance center between March 2020 and March 2021. Results: The average age of participants was 41.1 (SD 10.8) years, most women (71.1%), who had obesity (19.9%) and hypertension (17.0%). Among the symptoms, headache (75.3%) and cough (74.9%) stood out. The worsening of clinical outcome during follow-up occurred in 3.4% of cases. The demographic, occupational and clinical factors associated with clinical worsening were gender, professional category, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, dyslipidemia, olfactory disorders, cough, fever, and dyspnea. The Poisson regression showed that the prevalence of clinical worsening was greater with age, obesity, fever, and dyspnea. Conclusion: Clinical worsening occurred in 3.4% of the cases and was more prevalent according to age, obesity, fever, and dyspnea. The follow-up has shown promise in the early detection and treatment of COVID-19.