Medical Corps, Israel Defense Forces, Ramat Gan 02149, Israel.
Department of Military Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 9574869, Israel.
Mil Med. 2023 Jul 22;188(7-8):e1552-e1557. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usac263.
To this date, there is little known about the symptoms, their duration, and occupational implications of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the military population. Decisions regarding implementing precaution measures are based on data deriving from the general population. Moreover, the Omicron variant seems to cause a disease with lesser severity than previous variants. We aimed to describe the clinical presentation and estimate the loss of workdays due to mild COVID-19 during an Omicron predominant wave among a young, healthy, and mostly vaccinated military population.
A cross-sectional, survey-based study among IDF soldiers who replied to an online questionnaire following recovery from COVID-19. Data included self-reported vaccination status, symptoms presentation and duration, and service-related sick days. Student's t-test and chi-square test of independence were used to compare differences in continuous and categorical variables, respectively. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the odds ratio and 95% CIs for prolonged symptom duration (4 days and above) by participants' characteristics. The IDF medical corps institutional review board approved this study.
A total of 199 soldiers, with a mean age of 21.9 years, were included in the study. Upper respiratory tract symptoms, headache, and constitutional symptoms were found to be the most common among symptomatic soldiers. The median reported time for inability to continue the daily routine, including work, was 5 days [Interquartile range (IQR), 0-10]. Median duration of symptoms was 4 days (IQR, 0-10). In addition, women were found to have longer symptomatic disease (odds ratio = 2.34; 95% CI, 1.20-4.52).
Our findings demonstrate that even among a young and fully vaccinated population, COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant may result in substantial medical leave from military service, compared to common cold or influenza virus infection. Our study sample was relatively small; however, the response rate was high and our results shed light on the yet-to-be fully characterized Omicron variant-related COVID-19. Despite the current common perception of COVID-19 as a self-limiting mild disease with low burden of symptoms, our findings show the potential occupational burden of infection with COVID-19 on military units and their readiness and could be considered when discussing public health restrictions and further steps taken to minimize outbreaks ramifications.
迄今为止，人们对军队人群中冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的症状、持续时间和职业影响知之甚少。实施预防措施的决定是基于来自普通人群的数据。此外，奥密克戎变体似乎导致的疾病比以前的变体造成的疾病要轻微。我们旨在描述年轻、健康且大部分接种疫苗的军事人群中奥密克戎为主导的浪潮期间轻度 COVID-19 的临床症状表现，并估计因轻度 COVID-19 而导致的工作日损失。
这是一项在以色列国防军（IDF）士兵中进行的横断面、基于问卷调查的研究，这些士兵在从 COVID-19 康复后回复了在线问卷。数据包括自我报告的疫苗接种状况、症状表现和持续时间以及与服务相关的病假。学生 t 检验和卡方检验用于比较连续和分类变量的差异。采用二元逻辑回归分析估计参与者特征与延长症状持续时间（4 天及以上）的比值比（OR）和 95%置信区间（CI）。IDF 医疗团机构审查委员会批准了这项研究。
共有 199 名士兵，平均年龄为 21.9 岁，纳入本研究。有症状的士兵中最常见的症状是上呼吸道症状、头痛和全身症状。报告无法继续日常活动（包括工作）的中位数时间为 5 天[四分位距（IQR），0-10]。症状持续时间的中位数为 4 天（IQR，0-10）。此外，女性的症状性疾病持续时间更长（OR=2.34；95%CI，1.20-4.52）。
我们的研究结果表明，即使在年轻且完全接种疫苗的人群中，与普通感冒或流感病毒感染相比，由奥密克戎变体引起的 COVID-19 也可能导致大量军事人员因病缺勤。我们的研究样本相对较小；然而，响应率很高，我们的结果揭示了尚未完全确定的奥密克戎变体相关 COVID-19 的特征。尽管目前人们普遍认为 COVID-19 是一种自限性轻度疾病，症状负担低，但我们的研究结果表明，感染 COVID-19 可能对军事单位及其战备能力造成潜在的职业负担，在讨论公共卫生限制和采取进一步措施尽量减少疫情影响时可以考虑这些结果。
