The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto announced the start of a scientific study that aims to assess morbidity and mortality among health professionals.

Today, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP) announced the start of a scientific study to assess morbidity and mortality among healthcare professionals during the covid-19 pandemic in Portugal.

Entitled PROVIDA, the project will be developed with collaboration of the Portuguese Doctors’, Nurses’ and Pharmacists’ Associations, other medical schools, unions and research units.

“Knowledge obtained will be essential to assess the risks to which health professionals are and were subjected during the period of the epidemic, and improve individual protection measures in the future,” said Altamiro da Costa Pereira, the study’s coordinator and director of FMUP.

With PROVIDA, “the aim is not only to quantify possible excess mortality rates among health professionals compared to those of the general population, but also to investigate possible differences in risks related with different clinical specialties and exposures of health professionals to infected patients,” he said.

In this setting, data on deaths during the epidemic period will be compared with data from similar months in the previous year as well as the average and trends in deaths in recent years.

Associating working conditions will also distinguish possible variations in risk between different clinical specialties, workplaces and possible data on comorbidities, beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as masks, gloves, gowns or visors.

This study’s conclusions will be “crucial to update contingency plans” to reduce mortality and morbidity among health professionals in future epidemic waves caused by this or another virus, by implementing measures to protect the most vulnerable groups of professionals.

Furthermore, “the project intends to pay a well-deserved tribute to all those who have sacrificed themselves in this pandemic, sometimes risking their lives, for the treatment of patients who resorted to them”, added the coordinator of CINTESIS (Center for Health Technology and Services Research).

This study will seek the support of professional organisations and trade unions of other health professionals – such as senior diagnostic and therapeutic technicians or operational assistants – as well as employers, hospitals, Social Solidarity Institutions (IPSS) and relatives of victims to obtain and validate certain data.

The collaboration of Statistics Portugal, regional health administrations, the Directorate-General for Health, Shared Services of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Health itself will also be sought in order to facilitate access to a great amount of primary data that will be analysed.

Data collection, preparation and analysis will be carried out centrally by a multidisciplinary team of experienced specialists, coordinated by PROVIDA main investigator.

The project has already earned the logistical support of Porto City Hall, the clinical support of Clinical Academic Center of Porto, and the academic and scientific sponsorship of CEMP – Council of Portuguese Medical Schools.

Researchers or entities wishing to make a technical, scientific or financial contribution to the project may contact the team responsible by e-mail: provida@med.up.pt.

The new coronavirus, responsible for the covid-19 pandemic, has infected more than 1.3 million people worldwide, of which more than 73,000 have died.

In Portugal, according to the Directorate-General of Health, 311 deaths were recorded on Monday, 16 more than the previous day, and 11,730 cases of confirmed infections, which represents an increase of 452 compared to Sunday.

Of the patients infected, 1,099 are in hospital, 270 of whom are in intensive care units, and 140 have recovered.