Universität zu Köln

Waldhauer, Julia, Beese, Florian ORCID: 0000-0002-6976-7993, Wachtler, Benjamin, Haller, Sebastian ORCID: 0000-0001-8242-711X, Koschollek, Carmen, Pfoertner, Timo-Kolja and Hoebel, Jens (2022). Socioeconomic differences in the reduction of face-to-face contacts in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. BMC Public Health, 22 (1). LONDON: BMC. ISSN 1471-2458

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Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to physical distancing measures to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Evidence on contact dynamics in different socioeconomic groups is still sparse. This study aimed to investigate the association of socioeconomic status with private and professional contact reductions in the first COVID-19 wave in Germany. Methods: Data from two especially affected municipalities were derived from the population-based cross-sectional seroepidemiological CORONA-MONITORING lokal study (data collection May-July 2020). The study sample (n = 3,637) was restricted to working age (18-67 years). We calculated the association of educational and occupational status (low, medium, high) with self-reported private and professional contact reductions with respect to former contact levels in the first wave of the pandemic. Multivariate Poisson regressions were performed to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) adjusted for municipality, age, gender, country of birth, household size, contact levels before physical distancing measures, own infection status, contact to SARS-CoV-2 infected people and working remotely. Results: The analyses showed significant differences in the initial level of private and professional contacts by educational and occupational status. Less private contact reductions with lower educational status (PR low vs. high = 0,79 [CI = 0.68-0.91], p = 0.002; PR medium vs. high = 0,93 [CI = 0.89-0.97], p = 0.001) and less professional contact reductions with lower educational status (PR low vs. high = 0,87 [CI = 0.70-1.07], p = 0.179; PR medium vs. high = 0,89 [CI = 0.83-0.95], p = 0.001) and lower occupational status (PR low vs. high = 0,62 [CI = 0.55-0.71], p < 0.001; PR medium vs. high = 0,82 [CI = 0.77-0.88], p < 0.001) were observed. Conclusions: Our results indicate disadvantages for groups with lower socioeconomic status in private and professional contact reductions in the first wave of the pandemic. This may be associated with the higher risk of infection among individuals in lower socioeconomic groups. Preventive measures that a) adequately explain the importance of contact restrictions with respect to varying living and working conditions and b) facilitate the implementation of these reductions especially in the occupational setting seem necessary to better protect structurally disadvantaged groups during epidemics.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Waldhauer, Julia UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Beese, Florian UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-6976-7993 UNSPECIFIED Wachtler, Benjamin UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Haller, Sebastian UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-8242-711X UNSPECIFIED Koschollek, Carmen UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Pfoertner, Timo-Kolja UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hoebel, Jens UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-665857
DOI:	10.1186/s12889-022-14811-4
Journal or Publication Title:	BMC Public Health
Volume:	22
Number:	1
Date:	2022
Publisher:	BMC
Place of Publication:	LONDON
ISSN:	1471-2458
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/66585