Research Department of Medical Education, University College London, London, UK.
Genetic Epidemiology Research Group, Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
BMJ Open. 2021 Sep 17;11(9):e050647. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-050647.
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality and devastated economies globally. Among groups at increased risk are healthcare workers (HCWs) and ethnic minority groups. Emerging evidence suggests that HCWs from ethnic minority groups are at increased risk of adverse COVID-19-related outcomes. To date, there has been no large-scale analysis of these risks in UK HCWs or ancillary workers in healthcare settings, stratified by ethnicity or occupation, and adjusted for confounders. This paper reports the protocol for a prospective longitudinal questionnaire study of UK HCWs, as part of the UK-REACH programme (The United Kingdom Research study into Ethnicity And COVID-19 outcomes in Healthcare workers).
A baseline questionnaire will be administered to a national cohort of UK HCWs and ancillary workers in healthcare settings, and those registered with UK healthcare regulators, with follow-up questionnaires administered at 4 and 8 months. With consent, questionnaire data will be linked to health records with 25-year follow-up. Univariate associations between ethnicity and clinical COVID-19 outcomes, physical and mental health, and key confounders/explanatory variables will be tested. Multivariable analyses will test for associations between ethnicity and key outcomes adjusted for the confounder/explanatory variables. We will model changes over time by ethnic group, facilitating understanding of absolute and relative risks in different ethnic groups, and generalisability of findings.
The study is approved by Health Research Authority (reference 20/HRA/4718), and carries minimal risk. We aim to manage the small risk of participant distress about questions on sensitive topics by clearly participant information that the questionnaire covers sensitive topics and there is no obligation to answer these or any other questions, and by providing support organisation links. Results will be disseminated with reports to Government and papers submitted to pre-print servers and peer reviewed journals.
ISRCTN11811602; Pre-results.
COVID-19 大流行导致了大量的发病率和死亡率，并使全球经济遭受重创。在风险增加的人群中，有医护人员（HCWs）和少数民族群体。新出现的证据表明，少数民族群体的 HCWs 面临着与 COVID-19 相关的不良后果的风险增加。迄今为止，在英国 HCWs 或医疗机构中的辅助工作人员中，还没有针对这些风险进行的大规模分析，也没有按种族或职业进行分层，并针对混杂因素进行调整。本文报告了英国-REACH 项目（英国种族与 COVID-19 对医疗保健工作者结局的研究）中一项针对英国 HCWs 的前瞻性纵向问卷调查研究的方案。
将向全国范围内的英国 HCWs 和医疗机构中的辅助工作人员，以及向英国医疗保健监管机构注册的人员发放基线调查问卷，并在 4 个月和 8 个月时发放后续调查问卷。在获得同意的情况下，问卷数据将与健康记录进行链接，以进行 25 年的随访。将测试种族与临床 COVID-19 结局、身心健康以及关键混杂因素/解释变量之间的单变量关联。将测试调整混杂因素/解释变量后，种族与关键结局之间的多变量关联。我们将按族裔群体建模随时间的变化，从而有助于了解不同族裔群体的绝对和相对风险以及研究结果的普遍性。
该研究已获得健康研究管理局的批准（参考 20/HRA/4718），并具有最小风险。我们旨在通过以下方式管理参与者对敏感主题问题的困扰风险：明确告知参与者问卷涵盖敏感主题，并且没有义务回答这些或任何其他问题，并提供支持组织链接。结果将以向政府报告和向预印本服务器和同行评审期刊提交论文的形式传播。
ISRCTN11811602；预结果。
