Journal of School of Public Health and

---

Background and Aim: Healthy food and nutrition have always been a serious concern of human beings. In this regard, food safety is extremely important. As an example, nitrates in foods may affect their safety. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nitrate contents of highly consumed food products (potatoes, tomatoes and onions) on sale in wholesale fruit and vegetable markets (Heravi, Mellat and Lavizan) in District 4 of Tehran, Iran.
Materials and Methods: Samples of the foods were collected in winter and spring, and their nitrate content was measured spectrophotometrically. The SPSS-20 software was used for data analysis.
Results: The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the vegetables nitrate contents in winter and spring. The nitrate content of onions in the spring in the Heravi market and that of potatoes in the winter in the Lavizan market were higher than the respective standard, while that of tomatoes was less than the standard in both seasons.
Conclusion: The nitrate content in the samples was in most cases below the respective standard, indicating that the vegetables on sale in the wholesale markets in Tehran were acceptable as regards nitrate content (at least in spring and winter).

---

Background and Aim: For achievement of equity in the population health the implementation of health in all policies is essential. The most crucial intervention in this approach is inter-sectoral collaboration.
 Materials and Methods: This was a qualitative study based on the national policy framework. Data were collected using literature review, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with the stakeholders. The results were categorized into three sections, namely, situational analysis and factors affecting it, developing goals and objectives, and requirements and interventions.
 Results: Currently inter-sectoral collaboration in the Iranian health system potentially allows to have health in all policies policy in terms of explicit legislative support, national macro-policies/upstream documents and organizational structure. It will require proper planning as regards designing and institutionalizing appropriate mechanisms for collaboration, as well as cultural and skills capacity building, for stakeholders within and outside the health sector.
Conclusion: The findings of this study can be used in annual operational planning of the High Council of Health and Food Security secretariat.

---

Background and Aim: One of the dimensions of health is social health. Social health indicates, in a way, the inviolability of the identity aspects of individuals in the community. From among the factors affecting social health, a sense of social security both in its objective and mental dimensions has a particularly significant effect, and also a fundamental impact, on the efficiency of individuals in the society. In this study the relationship between the two variables ─ social security and social health ─ was investigated empirically.
Materials and Methods: This was a quantitative survey including a sample of 400 residents in Lende City, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran in 1398. Data were collected using questionnaires.
Results: The findings showed that there were statistically significant relationships between the sense of social security and social health in most of their domains (P <0.05). Modeling of structural equations between these two variables also showed that the sense of social security with a regression weight of 0.54 had an effect on social health in a way that this variable alone explained 29% of changes in social health, while gender had no effect in this regard.
Conclusion: On the basis of the findings it can be concluded that the sense of social security has significant effects on social health and efficiency of people in the society. Therefore, if a society can protect the identity components of its citizens in its different ethnic, religious, linguistic and national aspects and increase their level of social tolerance, then it will be possible to create better conditions for promoting the social health of individuals in that society.

---

Background and Aim: Prostitution is one of the alarming social harms in any population with considerable challenges and concerns. Many prostitutes have been victims of unfavorable social conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine and explain the goals, service patterns, challenges and proposed solutions for the Program of Rehabilitation of Socially Harmed Women in the Iranian Welfare Organization (IWO).
Materials and Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in 2016. The participants included managers and experts of the general departments of the IWO in 31 provinces, 21 members of public mediators and stakeholder organizations, and 5 senior staff managers and senior experts of the IWO Deputy Director’s Office for Social Affairs. Data were collected using document analysis and in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions and analyzed using the content analysis method.
Results: Based on the data collected, the challenges of the program implementation were found to be as follows: non-acceptance of these women by the society, identity problems of the children borne to them (legally), poor chances of employment, sexual abuse of the women by the employers and mental disorders of the women, as well as poor intersectoral collaboration in IWO and lack of sufficient manpower. Proposed solutions for improvement of the situation included increasing financial credits, creating a national database, informing and sensitizing the people and approving some new judicial laws, as well as reforming some of the existing judicial laws.
Conclusion: Despite the services delivered in this national program, the program faces challenges at the government and public levels. In order to improve the current situation, it is essential to apply the proposed solutions, as well as review and modify the relevant processes.

---

Background and Aim: Insects associated with dead bodies are very diverse and very important in decomposition and recycling of the carcasses.  The present study was conducted in the Margoon region of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad province (Iran) to determine the species diversity of carrion insects associated with decomposing remains of different animals.
Materials and Methods: Different cadavers of domestic goat, rat and chicken were collected and carrion insects were sampled from them in different seasons during one year.
Results: In total, 21 species of carrion insects including 13 necrophages, 3 predators, 3 omnivores and 2 casual species were collected and identified.
Conclusion: Based on the data, the order Coleoptera (beetles) was the most diverse group as regards species among the orders collected, and the highest diversity was observed during spring. Two species, namely, Thanatophilus rugosus and Saprinus maculatus were reported to be new in the south west of Iran. Furthermore, our results show that the species diversity of carrion insects in the region studied was rather high.

---

Background and Aim: The health system financing is the process of collecting, pooling and managing financial resources and purchasing healthcare services. Health financing plays an important role in achieving the health system goals and objectives specially universal health coverage. The aim of this study was to strategically analyze the Iranian health financing system and recommend strategies to strengthen it.
Materials and Methods: Using the scoping review method, all published studies about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the Iranian health financing system were searched in eight databases including "PubMed", "Scopus", "Science Direct", "Embase", "ProQuest", "SID" and "Magiran", as well as the "National Database of Medical Science Theses" and two search engines, namely, "Google" and "Google scholar". Finally, 29 studies were selected and analyzed using the framework analysis method and MAXQDA software. 
Results: Extended health insurance coverage, reduced out-of-pocket payments following the national health transformation plan, and increased healthcare tariffs were the strengths of the Iranian health financing system. On the other hand, regressive financing, high out-of-pocket payments and increased number of health insurance companies were the weaknesses of Iran’s health financing system. Political sanctions, financial crises and increased healthcare demands were the threats, while supportive laws, the NGO’s financial support, increased number of health care organizations and modern technologies were among the important opportunities for the Iranian health financing system. Increasing the health system financial resources through prepayments, structural and policy unification of health insurance system, health service tariff reform and enhancing health system efficiency and healthcare services quality are essential to strengthen the Iranian health financing system.
Conclusion: The Iranian health financing system is not resilient and faces several challenges. The health system policy-makers and senior managers should adopt the recommended strategies to strengthen the national health financing system.

---

Background and Aim: One of the dimensions of health is mental health that could be affected by the quality of occupational life. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of job satisfaction on teachers' mental health with due consideration of the moderating role of gender and the subjects taught.
Materials and Methods: This was a quantitative survey using a questionnaire including a sample of 373 teachers, selected by multistage random sampling, from among all (n = 1500) the secondary school first- and second-grade teachers in Najafabad city, Isfahan Province, Iran. Data analysis was done using the software AMOS and SPSS.
Results: The confirmatory factor analysis of the items showed that these items could explain 63.25% of the variance of the mental health construct. In addition, the standard effect of job satisfaction on mental health was found to be 0.37 (p <0.001), explaining 13% of the mental health construct variance. Further analysis of the data showed that the teachers’ mean mental health construct (66.64) and their mean of job satisfaction (73.90) were lower and higher than the means of the respective spectra (p <0.001), respectively.
Conclusion: Job satisfaction, which has been proven to affect the teachers’ mental health, can improve their personal and social life and make them more efficient in education. In this regard, gender and the type of subject taught can have moderating effects on the relationship between job satisfaction and mental health of the teachers. Based on the beta-values (0.55 for the women group and 0.68 for the experimental science teachers group), the gender female and teaching experimental science can have a stronger effect on the teachers’ mental health than gender male and teaching subjects other than experimental science.

---

Background and Aim: High concentrations of particulate matter-25 (PM_2.5) have been the cause of the unhealthiest days in Tehran, Iran in recent years. This study was conducted with the aim of the spatio-temporal analysis of traffic volume and its relationship with PM_2.5 pollutant concentrations in Tehran metropolis, Tehran during 2015-2018, using the Geographic Information System (GIS).
Materials and Methods: In this study in different regions of Tehran, the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) model was used for prediction and zoning of the PM_2.5 concentrations and traffic volume during the period 2015-2018. In addition, the association between the PM_2.5 concentrations and traffic volume was determined based on the Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) model.
Results: The findings showed that the southern and southwestern regions of Tehran had the highest PM_2.5 pollutant concentration (annual average more than 40 μg/m³), while the eastern and northern regions had the highest traffic volume. In addition, based on the GWR model, the eastern regions were found to have the highest local R² values (between 0.36 and 0.70).
Conclusion: In most regions of Tehran, no strong association can be found between high concentrations of PM_2.5 and traffic volume. However, based on the findings of this study we cannot reject the relationship between traffic volume and PM_2.5 pollutant but postulate other sources to be the main reason for the high concentrations of PM_2.5. Thus, in the first step, these sources should be identified, followed by adopting strategies for traffic volume control and reduction aiming at having a cleaner air in Tehran.

---

Background and Aim: This study was performed to investigate the effect of mental wellbeing on flow at work with the mediator variable of perceived organizational support in Payam Noor University in Khuzestan Province, Iran.
Matrials and Methods: This was an applied research project. The research population was the personnel of Payam Noor University in Khuzestan Province, Iran. The sample size was, based on the Cochran formula, 228 subjects selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire (on a 5-point Likert scale), the validity of which was determined based on experts’ confirmation and confirmatory factorial analysis and the reliability by Cronbach alpha (in both cases over 0.7). Data analysis was done using the SPSS-21 and Amos software.
Results: The effects of mental wellbeing on flow at work and perceived organizational support were found to be 0.76, 0.48, respectively, the effect of perceived organizational support on flow at work being 0.23.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, it is concluded that mental wellbeing has a significant positive impact on flow at work and perceived organizational support. In addition, the mediating effect of perceived organizational support is confirmed.

---

Background and Aim:  The health financing system is the process of collecting, pooling and managing financial resources to purchase health services. Sustainable financing of the Iranian health system is crucial for achieving universal health coverage. The purpose of this study was to identify strategies for sustainable financing of the Iranian health system.
Materials and Methods:  This study was conducted using the scoping review in 2020. The following databases and search engines were searched systematically between 21.03.2002 and 21.09.2020 to find studies related to sustainable financing strategies for the Iranian health system: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Embase, Magiran, Iranmedex and SID databases, and two search engines; i.e., "Google" and "Google scholar”. Finally, 47 studies were selected and analyzed using the MAXQDA software and the framework analysis method.
Results: A total of 40 strategies were identified for strengthening the sustainability of Iran's health financing system, which were grouped into three categories: collecting funds, pooling funds and purchasing health services. The most frequently cited strategies for sustainable financing of the Iranian health system were the following: increasing the health share of gross domestics product, expanding tax revenues, pre-payment methods of health financing, strengthening public-private partnership, increasing the efficiency of the health system, reducing health system costs, consolidating insurance funds, eliminating insurance overlaps, value-based health service tariffs, optimizing health services support packages, and fixed payment methods based on  the performance of the health service providers.
Conclusion: The Iran's health financing system must be strengthened in such a way as to make it possible to collect, pool and manage sufficient financial resources to be used to purchase health services for the people to ultimately ensure universal health coverage leading to the promotion of the public’s health.

---

Background and Aim: Fertility declining to a level too low for replacement and preventing its negative consequences have led to changes in the country's population policies. Understanding the causes of declining fertility and proper policymaking to increase it requires prompt action on the part of researchers and policymakers in different social and health fields. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different components of perceived social support  ̶  instrumental support, material support and emotional support  ̶  on women's fertility intention. 
Materials and Methods: This was a survey conducted in the suburban areas of Bushehr Province, Iran. Using multi-stage cluster sampling a total of 600 eligible women aged 18-44 years old were selected. The questions used to measure fertility intention and social support dimensions of the women were extracted from the standard questionnaire used in international research.
Results: The data showed thaBackground and Aim: Fertility declining to a level too low for replacement and preventing its negative consequences have led to changes in the country's population policies. Understanding the causes of declining fertility and proper policymaking to increase it requires prompt action on the part of researchers and policymakers in different social and health fields. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different components of perceived social support  ̶  instrumental support, material support and emotional support  ̶  on women's fertility intention. 
Materials and Methods: This was a survey conducted in the suburban areas of Bushehr Province, Iran. Using multi-stage cluster sampling a total of 600 eligible women aged 18-44 years old were selected. The questions used to measure fertility intention and social support dimensions of the women were extracted from the standard questionnaire used in international research.
Results: The data showed that about 89% of those women who had had one child declared their intention to have a second child, while only 38% of those with 2 children had the intention to have a third child. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression indicated that increased instrumental support will, through controlling the number of currently living children, their education and employment status, increase the likelihood of women's fertility intentions to 1.445.
Conclusion: The instrumental support and the relevant support that can be obtained from social network members can facilitate the transition to higher fertility sequences.
t about 89% of those women who had had one child declared their intention to have a second child, while only 38% of those with 2 children had the intention to have a third child. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression indicated that increased instrumental support will, through controlling the number of currently living children, their education and employment status, increase the likelihood of women's fertility intentions to 1.445.
Conclusion: The instrumental support and the relevant support that can be obtained from social network members can facilitate the transition to higher fertility sequences.
 

---

Background and Aim: With the rapid spread of Covid-19 around the world, the exposure of health care workers to the disease has increased. The study aimed to investigate the personal and professional experiences of health care workers during the outbreak of coronavirus in hospitals in Tehran, Iran.
Materials and Methods: This qualitative study included health care workers in the main Covid-19 units in Shahid-Beheshti University of Medical Sciences hospitals in Tehran, Iran conducted using the content analysis method in 2021. The sample was selected by purposeful sampling, using the snowball method. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and, after extracting the items, analyzed using the MAXQDA 10 software.
Results: After coding a total of 236 main codes were extracted and divided into 10 main categories and 30 subcategories. Four main themes were identified: "Personal experience of health care workers", "Professional experience of health care workers", "Challenges of working in the field of Covid-19" and "Strategies to deal with Covid-19".
Conclusion: Due to the increasing psychological pressure on health care workers, it seems that planning psychological counseling and providing welfare facilities for them can be useful in reducing their mental stress. In addition, it is recommended to hold training and maneuvering courses at times of crisis and provide the necessary equipment, as well as take action for continuous supervision and monitoring to improve the working conditions of health workers.
 

---

Background and Aim: The health financing system is "the process of collecting, pooling and managing financial resources and purchasing healthcare services”. Iran's health financing system is facing challenges. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Iranian health financing system.        
Materials and Methods: This descriptive study retrospectively evaluated the health financing system of Iran between 2000 and 2019 using archival data. Data were collected from the World Bank website and analyzed using the Excel software.
Results: Iran's health expenditure per capita increased by 3.7% annually between 2000 and 2019 and reached $868 (purchasing power parity) in 2019. Iran's total health expenditure increased from $32 billion in 2000 to $72 billion (purchasing power parity) in 2019 (5.9% annual increase). Iran accounted for about 0.6% of the world total health expenditure in 2019. In that year about 6.7% of the country's gross domestic product was spent on health, the global average being 9.8%, while the general government health expenditure (% of the then current health expenditure) in Iran and the world were 49.5% and 59.8%, respectively. Out-of-pocket expenditure (% of the then current health expenditure) decreased in the last decade in Iran, reaching 39.5% in 2019, compared to 18% worldwide.
Conclusion: Iran’s health system costs are increasing at a faster rate than the growth of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The country’s health expenditure (% of GDP) and, as a result, the general government health expenditure (% of general government expenditures) has decreased and out-of-pocket expenditure (% of current health expenditures) has increased. Therefore, reforms should be implemented to strengthen the country's health financing system.
 

---

Background and Aim: Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs), are "recommendations intended to optimize patient care based on systematic reviews of available evidence and assessment of the benefits and harms of alternative care options". CPGs play an important role in improving the quality of care, reducing the diversity of treatment methods, reducing medical errors, managing health costs and increasing patient safety. This study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the decisions, consequences and policy trends of using CPGs in Iran during the period 2001-2021.
Materials and Methods: This study was a type of health policy analysis, carried out using analysis of the policy process approach. Data were collected through reviewing policy documents (n=79) and qualitative interviews (n=27). Analysis of policy documents was done using the content analysis method, the software used being Excel software, while for analysis of the interviews the framework analysis method was used, the software being the MAXQDA10 software.
Results: The policy of using CPGs in Iran started in 2001 and has improved over the past two decades. During the period 2016-2021 a total of 836 CPGs (knowledge products) were published, but according to the participants, many of these CPGs or knowledge products did not have the necessary quality and were not used by physicians. The findings of this study also showed that in Iran there is a suitable atmosphere for implementing CPGs and the policies of using them are sound policies; however, there is a huge gap between the development and implementation of CPGs.
Conclusion: Although the process of applying CPGs has improved in Iran, their implementation faces challenges and, thus, they have not been fully implemented. Therefore, there is a need to adopt new standard methods and approaches to improve the quality and reliability of CPGs. Certainly, the support of the government, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the medical community, insurance organizations and other stakeholders, along with proper collaboration and appropriate policy formulations, are essential to achieve success.
 

---

Background and Aim: Domestic violence against women as a social characteristic can affect women's reproductive behaviors. The present study investigated the relationship between domestic violence against women and their childbearing intention.
Materials and Methods: This study was a survey conducted using a questionnaire in 2022. The statistical population was married women aged 15-49 years living in Sadra city, Iran, out of whom a sample of 379 was selected by the multi-stage cluster technic. Domestic violence against women was measured using a form with 26 items with a Likert scale, the domestic violence score being obtained by the sum of scores of the items. The SPSS software version 20 was used to analyze the data, the statistical tests being descriptive statistics and two-dimensional logistic regression.
Results: The most common types of domestic violence against women were found to be, in descending order, psychological, physical, economic and sexual violence. The duration of marriage and education of women had a statistically significant effect on their childbearing intention. Increasing domestic violence against women was found to reduce their childbearing intention.
Conclusion: Reducing domestic violence can increase the women’s intention to have children. Therefore, reducing domestic violence against women should be on the policy agenda of the relevant decision makers.
 

---

Background and Aim: Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar level is high due to hormonal disturbances. Monitoring and evaluation certainly helps to prevent, manage and control this widespread disease. The aim of this study was to study the epidemiology of diabetes in the Diabetes Clinic in Bu-Ali Hospital, Zahedan in South East Iran.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study conducted in 2020 including all the 1164 patients referring to the Diabetes Clinic in Bu-Ali Hospital.  Data were collected using a standard check list and analyzed using the Stata-v14 software.
Results: Information on 1164 patients with diabetes was recorded and analyzed. Most (97.7%) of the patients had type-2 diabetes. The average fasting blood sugar in patients with type-1 and type-2 diabetesd was 236 and 201 mg/dL respectively, the corresponding A1C levels being abnormally high ─ 9.6% and 8.4%. Fasting blood sugar was associated with diabetic foot complications and nephropathy (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study the level of care of diabetic patients in terms of quantity and quality is not quite acceptable, not conforming to the respective national standards. This issue indicates the unfavorable performance of the Diabetes Center, which can be attributed to the poor conditions of the geographic region, insufficient equipment and specialized manpower and low health literacy of the people. Therefore, increasing the awareness of overweight and obese people, especially those with a family history of diabetes, about prevention can help to reduce the incidence of the disease or minimize its complications.
 

---

Background and Aim: Considering the destructive consequences of corruption in Iran’s healthcare system, the present study aimed to explain the roots and causes of corruption prevalence in this system.
Materials and Methods: This was a qualitative study with quantitative content analysis conducted in Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MHME). Data were collected based on in-depth interviews with 13 experts in the MHME headquarters selected by theoretical and snowball sampling. The unit of analysis of the interviews was the sentence and the conducted interviews were analyzed through thematic analysis using the Shannon Entropy index.
Results: Data analysis showed that legislative fields with an importance coefficients (IC) of 0.293 ranked first, followed by social and cultural fields (IC 0.26), economic fields (IC 0.175), decision-making fields and organizational factors (IC 0.174), and, finally, individual factors and micro-level fields (IC 0.102).
Conclusion: Considering the importance coefficient of individual factors and micro-level fields,
it can be concluded that the personality and individual characteristics of the experts/relevant persons are less important in the corruption occurrence, while the legal, social and cultural variables paly crucial roles in explaining corruption in the Iran’s healthcare system.
 

---

Background and Aim: The social health of people is a phenomennon that can play an essential role in the development of the society. A question is: to what extent has the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee (IKRC), an organization established at the beginning of the Iranian Islamic revolution to deliver services and help and empower the poor people to get them out of poverty, been successful in affecting the social health of the household female heads?  This study aimed to answer this question.
Materials and Methods: This research was conducted with a quantitative and survey approach, including 221 female heads of households under coverage of IKRC in Shiraz, Iran selected by the multi-stage cluster sampling method. The data collection tool was a questionnaire.    
Results: The findings showed that the social health of the household female heads under coverage of IKRC and all its components were higher than the average level.
Conclusion: Based on the findings it can be concluded that the educational, health and financial    
services provided by the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee could not have influenced significantly the social health of the service-seekers, although they could have affected some aspects of their lives. It is, thus, essential that the Committee revise the contents and the form of services delivered to female heads of households to promote their social health.
 

---

Background and Aim: Performance evaluation is a useful way to obtain information for decision-making and management of healthcare organizations. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of health houses in rural areas in Kerman City, Iran during the outbreak of Covid-19.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021-22 using descriptive and analytical methods. The research population included all the health houses in Kerman City (n=57), Iran. The tool for data collection was the Health House Performance Evaluation Checklist of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education developed to supervise the performance of health houses during the outbreak of Covid-19. Data analysis was done using SPSS 26 software, the statistical tests being descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and analytical statistics including independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance and Pearson and Spearman correlations.
Results: The average performance score of the health houses (n =55) in managing Covid-19 was 96.37 out of 136. Installation of the village map on the wall of the health house  (92.3%), screening and following up the positive-test individuals and informing the health care team to track and isolate individuals in close contact (84.6%) were found to have the highest, and injecting the third dose (78.8%) and the second dose (75%) of the Covid vaccine the lowest,  scores. From among the characteristics investigated the variable of native Behvarzes (the personnel of health houses) had a statistically significant positive relationship with the performance score (p=0.01). In addition, the health houses with more than one Behvarz were found to perform better than those with only one Behvarz (p=0.05).
Conclusion: Assessing the performance of health care units at times of crisis, including communicable diseases epidemics, will make it possible to identify the bottlenecks that need improvement for better preparedness in the future. Based on the findings of this  research, the expansion of the coverage of the covid-19 vaccination, updating the disease incidence, the performance of health care teams at home visits, and the progress of the operational plan were the variables that needed improvement most.
 

---

Background and Aim: Assessment of disease risk with the ultimatevaim of implementing preventive strategies in the workplace is a necessity. This study was conducted to assess the risk of COVID-19 in hospital occupational groups in Saghez city, Iran.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021 among three hospital occupational groups (total sample size = 300) in Saghez city, Iran, including physicians and nurses, as well as laboratory, administrative, financial, radiology and general service personnel, using the COVID-19 rapid risk analysis technique. Data were collected using a valid questionnaire based on the Likert scale and analysed (to determine acceptable, tolerable and intolerable risks) using the descriptive and inferential methods, the software used being SPSS-26.
Results: As regards the probability variable, the highest probability of occurrence of COVID-19 was related to the general service and administrative-financial occupational groups with an average of 1.6 and 1.5, respectively. The level of attitude was generally good and excellent. The analysis of the severity of the outcome variable was at a critical level in the physicians group (42.5) and at a catastrophic level in the other groups. In total, all occupations were rated at an unacceptable risk level (H), the general service and administrative-financial occupational groups being at a higher risk than other groups. There were statistically significant differences between the types of occupation on the one hand and the variables studied, as well as the individual characteristics and COVID-19 morbidity on the other hand.
Conclusion: Considering the high risk of occurrence of COVID-19 among the hospital professionals it is essential to develop and implement plans aiming at preventing and reducing the disease risk in them.