TY - JOUR
T1 - Why not to pick your nose
T2 - Association between nose picking and SARS-CoV-2 incidence, a cohort study in hospital health care workers
AU - Lavell, A. H. Ayesha
AU - Tijdink, Joeri
AU - Buis, David T. P.
AU - Smulders, Yvo M.
AU - Bomers, Marije K.
AU - Sikkens, Jonne J.
N1 - Funding Information: This work was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development ZonMw (S3 study, grant agreement no. 10430022010023 to M.K.B.) and the Corona Research Fund Amsterdam UMC. The funders were not involved in designing the study, data collection, analysis or interpreting the data, writing the manuscript or the decision to submit the article for publication. We thank all participating healthcare workers of Amsterdam UMC, who took time to facilitate this study in the midst of the pandemic, for their contribution. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Lavell et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - BACKGROUND: Hospital health care workers (HCW) are at increased risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. We investigated whether certain behavioral and physical features, e.g. nose picking and wearing glasses, are associated with infection risk. AIM: To assess the association between nose picking and related behavioral or physical features (nail biting, wearing glasses, and having a beard) and the incidence of SARS-CoV-2-infection. METHODS: In a cohort study among 404 HCW in two university medical centers in the Netherlands, SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies were prospectively measured during the first phase of the pandemic. For this study HCW received an additional retrospective survey regarding behavioral (e.g. nose picking) and physical features. RESULTS: In total 219 HCW completed the survey (response rate 52%), and 34/219 (15.5%) became SARS-CoV-2 seropositive during follow-up from March 2020 till October 2020. The majority of HCW (185/219, 84.5%) reported picking their nose at least incidentally, with frequency varying between monthly, weekly and daily. SARS-CoV-2 incidence was higher in nose picking HCW compared to participants who refrained from nose picking (32/185: 17.3% vs. 2/34: 5.9%, OR 3.80, 95% CI 1.05 to 24.52), adjusted for exposure to COVID-19. No association was observed between nail biting, wearing glasses, or having a beard, and the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. CONCLUSION: Nose picking among HCW is associated with an increased risk of contracting a SARS-CoV-2 infection. We therefore recommend health care facilities to create more awareness, e.g. by educational sessions or implementing recommendations against nose picking in infection prevention guidelines.
AB - BACKGROUND: Hospital health care workers (HCW) are at increased risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. We investigated whether certain behavioral and physical features, e.g. nose picking and wearing glasses, are associated with infection risk. AIM: To assess the association between nose picking and related behavioral or physical features (nail biting, wearing glasses, and having a beard) and the incidence of SARS-CoV-2-infection. METHODS: In a cohort study among 404 HCW in two university medical centers in the Netherlands, SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies were prospectively measured during the first phase of the pandemic. For this study HCW received an additional retrospective survey regarding behavioral (e.g. nose picking) and physical features. RESULTS: In total 219 HCW completed the survey (response rate 52%), and 34/219 (15.5%) became SARS-CoV-2 seropositive during follow-up from March 2020 till October 2020. The majority of HCW (185/219, 84.5%) reported picking their nose at least incidentally, with frequency varying between monthly, weekly and daily. SARS-CoV-2 incidence was higher in nose picking HCW compared to participants who refrained from nose picking (32/185: 17.3% vs. 2/34: 5.9%, OR 3.80, 95% CI 1.05 to 24.52), adjusted for exposure to COVID-19. No association was observed between nail biting, wearing glasses, or having a beard, and the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. CONCLUSION: Nose picking among HCW is associated with an increased risk of contracting a SARS-CoV-2 infection. We therefore recommend health care facilities to create more awareness, e.g. by educational sessions or implementing recommendations against nose picking in infection prevention guidelines.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85166439106&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85166439106&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288352
DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0288352
M3 - Article
C2 - 37531335
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 18
SP - e0288352
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
IS - 8 August
M1 - e0288352
ER -