In This Issue of Occupational Medicine

In the field of occupational health and safety, the problem of subjects directly exposed to the specific risk of contact with SARS-CoV-2 is prominent, in particular for healthcare workers (HCWs), universally recognized as those most deeply affected by the infection. In this issue, Keleset al. [1] investigated the underlying characteristics of nurses who died due to COVID-19, carrying out a study on grey literature and collecting data on 1518 reported COVID-19-related nurse deaths in 50 countries, as of 1 September 2020. They found that the median age of the deceased nurses was 56 years, and that the majority of deaths were reported in the 46 –65 (32%) year age range. Registered nurses had the highest number of deaths (680/957; 71%), in almost all nursing departments, but particularly mental health nurses (42/153; 28%), with the most reported deaths in the USA, South Africa, Mexico and Russia.
Source: Occupational Medicine - Category: Respiratory Medicine Source Type: research