Title
Beyond predicting the number of infections: Predicting who is likely to be covid negative or positive
Date Issued
01 January 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Dove Medical Press Ltd
Abstract
Background: This study aims to identify individuals’ likelihood of being COVID negative or positive, enabling more targeted infectious disease prevention and control when there is a shortage of COVID-19 testing kits. Methods: We conducted a primary survey of 521 adults on April 1–10, 2020 in Iran, where 3% reported being COVID-19 positive and 15% were unsure whether they were infected. This relatively high positive rate enabled us to conduct the analysis at the 5% significance level. Results: Adults who exercised more were more likely to be COVID-19 negative. Each additional hour of exercise per day predicted a 78% increase in the likelihood of being COVID-19 negative. Adults with chronic health issues were 48% more likely to be COVID-19 negative. Those working from home were the most likely to be COVID-19 negative, and those who had stopped working due to the pandemic were the most likely to be COVID-19 positive. Adults employed in larger organizations were less likely to be COVID-19 positive. Conclusion: This study enables more targeted infectious disease prevention and control by identifying the risk factors of COVID-19 infections from a set of readily accessible informa-tion. We hope this research opens a new research avenue to predict the individual likelihood of COVID-19 infection by risk factors.
Start page
2811
End page
2818
Volume
13
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Epidemiología
Salud pública, Salud ambiental
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85098003822
Source
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus