<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Articles JournalTitle="Journal of Biostatistics and Epidemiology">
  <Article>
    <Journal>
      <PublisherName>Tehran University of Medical Sciences</PublisherName>
      <JournalTitle>Journal of Biostatistics and Epidemiology</JournalTitle>
      <Issn>2383-4196</Issn>
      <Volume>7</Volume>
      <Issue>2</Issue>
      <PubDate PubStatus="epublish">
        <Year>2021</Year>
        <Month>07</Month>
        <Day>04</Day>
      </PubDate>
    </Journal>
    <title locale="en_US">The Prevalence of COVID-19 in Dentists and Dental Assistants</title>
    <FirstPage>174</FirstPage>
    <LastPage>184</LastPage>
    <AuthorList>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Narjes</FirstName>
        <LastName>Akbari</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Department of Oral Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran</affiliation>
      </Author>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Hamid</FirstName>
        <LastName>Salehiniya</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran</affiliation>
      </Author>
      <Author>
        <FirstName>Hamid</FirstName>
        <LastName>Abbaszadeh</LastName>
        <affiliation locale="en_US">Department of Oral and maxillofacial pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran</affiliation>
      </Author>
    </AuthorList>
    <History>
      <PubDate PubStatus="received">
        <Year>2021</Year>
        <Month>04</Month>
        <Day>10</Day>
      </PubDate>
      <PubDate PubStatus="accepted">
        <Year>2021</Year>
        <Month>05</Month>
        <Day>07</Day>
      </PubDate>
    </History>
    <abstract locale="en_US">Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 in dentists and dental&#xA0;assistants and their associated signs and symptoms.&#xA0;
&#xD;

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey from 9th to 23th May 2020. The&#xA0;sample size was 385. The questionnaire was registered at Porsline website. The questionnaire included&#xA0;questions about infection of dentists, dental assistants and their families with COVID-19, signs and&#xA0;symptoms, paraclinical tests, and treatments. The data were entered into Excel and SPSS software and&#xA0;analyzed using logistic regression test.&#xA0;
&#xD;

Results: From all responding dentists, 15.8% were suspected of having covid-19. Based on symptoms, only&#xA0;1.6% of dentists were highly suspicious for COVID-19. Only 0.78% of dentists were definitely positive for&#xA0;COVID-19 based on paraclinical tests. Symptoms were often very mild to moderate in severity. Among&#xA0;dental assistants, 5.5% were suspected of having COVID-19. Based on symptoms, none of dentists&#x2019;&#xA0;assistants were highly suspicious for COVID-19. None of dental assistants were definitely positive for&#xA0;COVID-19 based on paraclinical tests. Symptoms were often very mild to moderate in severity. Logistic&#xA0;regression showed that the odds of infection with Corona was higher in government-sector dentists than in&#xA0;the private sector (OR: 1.189; 95% C.I: 0.812-1.742), in specialist dentists than in general (OR: 1.903; 95%&#xA0;C.I: 0.532-2.245), and in dentists between the ages of 30-60 years old than under the age of 30 (OR: 3.647;&#xA0;95% C.I: 0.840-15.835).&#xA0;
&#xD;

Conclusion:&#xA0;Despite the fact that dentistry is a high-risk job for COVID-19 infection, the overall prevalence&#xA0;of COVID-19 in dentists and their assistants might be very low and the severity of symptoms in case of&#xA0;infection is probably mild.</abstract>
    <web_url>https://jbe.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jbe/article/view/473</web_url>
  </Article>
</Articles>
