Is chemical exposure present in informal work associated with Sars-CoV-2 infection?

Salles, Fernanda Junqueira; Leroux, Isabelle Nogueira; Araujo, Alda Neis Miranda de; Assunção, Nilson Antonio; Luz, Maciel Santos; Veiga, Glaucia Raquel Luciano da; Fonseca, Fernando Luiz Affonso; Diaz-Quijano, Fredi Alexander; Olympio, Kelly Polido Kaneshiro

doi:10.11606/s1518-8787.2023057004829

person Fernanda Junqueira Salles

The first two authors warrant the same merit, having had the same level of participation in the data collection, statistical analysis, and manuscript writing,Data collection, analysis, and interpretation,Study design and planning,Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolUniversidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Saúde Pública. Departamento de Saúde Ambiental. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

0000-0002-1260-8780

person Isabelle Nogueira Leroux

The first two authors warrant the same merit, having had the same level of participation in the data collection, statistical analysis, and manuscript writing,Data collection, analysis, and interpretation,Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolUniversidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Saúde Pública. Departamento de Saúde Ambiental. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

0000-0003-1475-2281

person Alda Neis Miranda de Araujo

Data collection, analysis, and interpretation,Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolUniversidade Federal de São Paulo. Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas. Diadema, SP, Brasil

0000-0003-3649-8683

person Nilson Antonio Assunção

Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolUniversidade Federal de São Paulo. Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas. Diadema, SP, Brasil

0000-0002-3747-0415

person Maciel Santos Luz

Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolInstituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas de São Paulo. Laboratório de Processos Metalúrgicos. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

0000-0001-7972-6514

person Glaucia Raquel Luciano da Veiga

Data collection, analysis, and interpretation,Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolCentro Universitário Faculdade de Medicina do ABC. Laboratório Clínico. Santo André, SP, Brasil

0000-0002-6097-2341

person Fernando Luiz Affonso Fonseca

Data collection, analysis, and interpretation,Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolUniversidade Federal de São Paulo. Instituto de Ciências Ambientais, Químicas e Farmacêuticas. Diadema, SP, BrasilschoolCentro Universitário Faculdade de Medicina do ABC. Laboratório Clínico. Santo André, SP, Brasil

0000-0003-1223-1589

person Fredi Alexander Diaz-Quijano

Data collection, analysis, and interpretation,Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolUniversidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Saúde Pública. Departamento de Epidemiologia. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

0000-0002-1134-1930

person Kelly Polido Kaneshiro Olympio

Study design and planning,Writing or review of the manuscript,Approval of the final version,Public responsibility for the content of the article

schoolUniversidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Saúde Pública. Departamento de Saúde Ambiental. São Paulo, SP, Brasil

0000-0002-4257-8295

Correspondence: Kelly Polido Kaneshiro Olympio Faculdade de Saúde Pública – USP. Departamento de Saúde Ambiental Avenida Doutor Arnaldo, 715, Cerqueira César 01246904 São Paulo, SP, Brasil E-mail:
kellypko@usp.br

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Variable	Chemically exposed		Control		Total		p-value

	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Age (years old)	37.23	11.54	35.32	9.19	36.29	10.40	0.52
BMI (kg/m²)	27.89	7.47	30.76	6.41	29.53	7.01	0.01
Chromium (µg L⁻¹)	1.22	0.81	1.50	1.64	1.36	1.28	0.58
Manganese (µg L⁻¹)	8.98	3.57	8.12	2.58	8.56	3.12	0.33
Nickel (µg L⁻¹)	3.31	1.64	3.13	1.71	3.22	1.65	0.73
Copper (µg L⁻¹)	1,119.77	230.00	1,174.40	210.71	1,146.55	220.28	0.37
Zinc (µg L⁻¹)	4,360.99	1,118.09	4492.29	1,133.27	4,425.35	1,116.21	0.68
Arsenic (µg L⁻¹)	0.44	0.22	0.97	2.11	0.70	1.49	0.42
Cadmium (µg L⁻¹)	1.13	1.55	0.15	0.35	0.66	1.24	< 0.001
Tin (µg L⁻¹)	0.97	0.26	0.95	0.34	0.96	0.30	0.83
Mercury (µg L⁻¹)	1.24	0.57	1.16	0.94	1.20	0.77	0.16
Lead (µg dL⁻¹)	2.15	1.53	1.09	0.51	1.63	1.26	0.01

Variable	Chemically exposed		Control		Total		p-value

	n = 86	43.6%	n = 111	56.4%	n = 197	100%
Presence of covid-19 symptoms							0.098
Yes	36	41.86%	33	29.73%	69	35.03%
No	50	58.14%	78	70.27%	128	64.97%
Adherence to social distancing							0.018
Yes	73	84.88%	78	70.27%	151	76.65%
No	13	15.12%	33	29.73%	46	23.35%
Days away from home per week							< 0.0001
≤ 4 days	77	89.53%	67	60.53%	144	73.10%
> 4 days	9	10.47%	44	39.64%	53	26.90%
Hours spent away from home when going out							< 0.0001
≤ 4 hours	76	88.37%	73	65.77%	149	75.63%
> 4 hours	10	11.63%	38	34.23%	48	24.37%
Use of public transportation
Bus (n = 17)	2	11.76%	15	88.24%	17	100%	0.005
Car via transport apps (n = 44)	23	52.27%	21	47.73%	44	100%	0.228
Taxi (n = 8)	3	37.50%	5	62.50%	8	100%	1.000
Serology test (n = 32)							0.139
Positive (n = 11)	2	18.18%	9	81.82%	11	100%
Negative (n = 21)	10	45.45%	11	54.38%	22	100%

Accepted being tested for covid-19	Observations with the presence of Covid-19 symptoms

	Yes		No		Total		p-value

	n	%	n	%	n	%
Chemically exposed group							0.043
Yes	29	49.15	30	50.85	59	100
No	7	25.93	20	74.07	27	100
Control group							0.104
Yes	27	27.27	72	72.73	99	100
No	6	50.00	6	50.00	12	100
Total							0.805
Yes	56	35.44	102	64.56	158	100
No	13	33.33	26	66.67	39	100

Risk factor	OR	95%CI	p-value
Group (chemically exposed or control)	1.74	0.83–3.68	0.14
Age (years old)	1.00	0.97–1.04	0.83
BMI (kg/m²)	0.99	0.93–1.06	0.85
Chromium (ppb)	0.88	0.64–1.21	0.43
Manganese (ppb)	1.08	0.95–1.22	0.26
Nickel (ppb)	1.11	0.84–1.46	0.48
Copper (ppb)	1.00	1.00–1.00	0.50
Zinc (ppb)	1.00	1.00–1.00	0.91
Arsenic (ppb)	1.01	0.75–1.35	0.96
Cadmium (ppb)	1.09	0.80–1.49	0.59
Tin (ppb)	3.65	0.84–15.84	0.08
Mercury (ppb)	0.64	0.31–1.30	0.22
Lead (µg/dL)	1.22	0.89–1.68	0.22
Adherence to social distancing	0.80	0.34–1.86	0.60
Days away from home per week	1.02	0.87–1.19	0.83
Hours spent away from home when going out	1.09	0,86–1,38	0.48
Use of public transportation	1.25	0.34–1.87	0.61
Bus use	1.95	0.59–6.44	0.28
Car use via transport apps	0.96	0.43–2.18	0.93
Taxi use	6.04	1.05–34.87	0.04

Is chemical exposure present in informal work associated with Sars-CoV-2 infection?

ABSTRACT