COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 as an occupational disease in Poland

The unexpected outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led huge impact on health and safety of employees. Although now the epidemiological situation has improved, but it remains a challenge, especially in light of the emergence of new threats. The aim of the work is to present an epidemiological analysis of data on COVID-19 as an occupational disease in Poland.

The analysis covered all cases of occupational diseases sent by state sanitary inspectors to the Central Register of Occupational Diseases. The years 2020-2022 and such available data as: age, gender, activities and territorial differentiation were analyzed. The data were presented as absolute numbers and incidence rates per 100 000 employed persons and for healthcare workers also per 100 000 persons authorized to practice.

In the period 2020-2022 in Poland 7030 diseases recognized as occupational diseases were recorded, of which almost half were infectious diseases (47%). Among infectious diseases, dominated COVID-19 in number of 2059 cases. In this period 98.6% of all cases of COVID-19 were concentrated in the health care and social activities. According to workplaces, most diseases were caused by working in hospitals - 1825 cases (88.6% of all COVID-19 cases in the healthcare workers). Most cases concerned nurses - 1355 cases (65,8%) and doctors - 212 cases (10,3%). The incidence of COVID-19 in the group of physicians per 10 000 persons entitled to practice ranged from 2.6 in 2020 to 68.3 in 2022, while among nurses and midwives the rates were 7.9 and 194.9, respectively.

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the picture of occupational diseases in Poland. Therefore, it is very important to understand the key contributions of people working in environments where workers are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 due to the nature of their work, and to promote the recognition of COVID-19 as an occupational disease. Med Pr Work Health Saf. 2023;74(6):479-86.