SARS-CoV-2 infection was spreading in the UK from January 2020, with the first recorded death from COVID-19 in March of the same year. Understanding the role of the workplace in the risk of COVID-19 is important but complex.

In this piece of work, Theme 3 researchers from the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study aimed to critique and synthesise existing analyses relating occupational risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 mortality via the following research questions:

1. To what extent do a set of studies relating to differences between occupations and sectors in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 mortality in the UK agree?

2. How do differences between occupations and sectors in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 mortality change over time?

3. What are the expected biases in these studies, and how confident can we be in their overall results?

In order to assess the key biases and strengths of the different studies and interpret our combined results, researchers brought together study authors in an in-person workshop in October 2022. 

Note this paper is a preprint and has not yet been formally peer-reviewed.

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