Table 1

Characteristics of DCWs with at least one confirmed COVID-19 infection and contacts for mental health and diagnoses, psychotropic medication and admissions in the COVID-19 pandemic between 1 March 2020 and 31 November 2021

	DCWs N=15 725		Confirmed COVID-19* N=3698		Mental health* N=5300
	N	%	N	%	N	%
DCW characteristics
Sex†
Female	13 253	84.3	3226	24.3	4685	35.4
Male	2472	15.7	472	19.1	615	24.9
Age (at registration)†
Under 35 years	4425	28.1	1164	26.3	1542	34.9
35 to <45 years	2822	17.9	795	28.2	977	34.6
45 to <55 years	3955	25.2	897	22.7	1398	35.4
55 years and over	4523	28.8	842	18.6	1383	30.6
Ethnicity†
White	15 012	95.5	3537	23.6	5128	34.2
Black	142	0.9	35	24.7	22	15.5
Mixed	127	0.8	***	***	***	***
Asian	108	0.7	25	23.2	18	16.7
Other	66	0.4	***	***	***	***
Mixed/Other	193	1.2	42	21.8	46	23.8
Not recorded	270	1.7	59	21.9	86	31.9
Lives with DCW?†—Yes	975	6.2	254	26.1	312	32.0
No	14 750	93.8	3444	23.4	4988	33.8
Has disability?†—Yes	188	1.2	30	16.0	91	48.4
No	14 141	89.9	3310	23.4	4714	33.3
Not recorded/Prefer not to answer	1396	8.9	358	25.6	495	35.5
Qualifications as recorded at registration†
Competence confirmed	1982	12.6	438	22.1	646	32.6
Induction framework	2984	19.0	737	24.7	1094	36.7
Qualification level 2	6935	44.1	1672	24.1	2328	33.6
Qualification level 3	3340	21.2	752	22.5	1077	32.3
Qualification level 4+	441	2.8	88	20.0	140	31.8
Not recorded	43	0.3	11	25.6	15	32.7
Employment sector as recorded at registration†
Private	6592	41.9	1480	22.5	2154	32.7
Third sector	4267	27.1	991	23.2	1454	34.1
Local authority-social services	3306	21.0	876	26.5	1159	35.1
Recruitment/Employment agency	148	0.9	43	25.0	65	37.8
Health/Other	24	0.2	43	25.0	65	37.8
Not recorded	1388	8.8	308	22.2	468	33.7
Smoking status‡
Non-smoker	6342	40.3	1638	25.8	2076	32.7
Current smoker	4374	27.8	875	20.0	1781	40.7
Ex-smoker	3509	22.3	1185	23.7	1443	28.8
Not recorded	1500	9.5	1185	23.7	1443	28.8
Body mass index‡
Underweight (<18.5)	256	1.6	48	18.8	99	38.7
Healthy weight (18.5–24.9)	3173	20.2	685	21.6	1045	32.9
Overweight (25–29.9)	3652	23.2	847	23.2	1341	36.7
Obese (≥30)	5311	33.8	1398	26.3	2320	43.7
Not recorded	3333	21.2	720	21.6	495	14.9
Any comorbidity?‡ § ¶—Yes	6804	43.3	1652	24.3	3205	47.1
No	8921	56.7	2046	22.9	2095	23.5
Mental health-related illness**	3431	21.8	–	–	–	–
Asthma	2699	17.2	–	–	–	–
CHD	281	1.8	–	–	–	–
CKD	132	0.8	–	–	–	–
COPD	299	1.9	–	–	–	–
Epilepsy	238	1.5	–	–	–	–
Osteoporotic fracture	462	2.9	–	–	–	–
Stroke	135	0.9	–	–	–	–
Diabetes	824	5.2	–	–	–	–
On COVID-19 shielding list?††—Yes	635	4.0	129	20.3	267	42.1
No	15 090	96.0	3569	23.7	5033	33.4
Area-level characteristics‡‡ §§
Resident health board
Aneurin Bevan	2819	17.9	758	26.9	980	34.8
Betsi Cadwaladr	3683	23.4	665	18.1	1140	31.0
Cardiff and Vale	1796	11.4	475	26.5	650	36.2
Cwm Taf Morgannwg	2702	17.2	755	27.9	1078	39.9
Hywel Dda	1965	12.5	392	20.0	561	28.6
Powys	662	4.2	104	15.7	105	15.9
Swansea Bay	2098	13.3	549	26.2	786	37.5
Deprivation quintile¶¶
1 (most deprived)	4168	26.5	1143	27.4	1541	37.0
2	3970	25.2	991	25.0	1392	35.1
3	3301	21.0	697	21.1	1005	30.5
4	2554	16.2	503	19.7	780	30.5
5 (most affluent)	1732	11.0	364	21.0	582	33.6
Rurality classification
Rural	4932	31.4	947	19.2	1435	29.1
Urban	10 793	68.6	2751	25.5	3865	35.8

*Between 1 March 2020 and 31 November 2021.
†Data source=Domiciliary Social Care Worker data and include data that are self-reported by DCWs on 1 April. If missing, then other sources (ONS 2011 Census Wales, WLGP, PEDW, Emergency Department Dataset) were used to impute (at index date=1 March 2020).
‡Data source=WLGP.
§Data source=PEDW.
¶Most recent occurring between 1 January 2000 and 1 March 2020.
**Contacts and diagnoses for mental health and admissions.
††People at a higher risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19.
‡‡Based on residential address on 1 March 2020.
§§Data source=Welsh Demographic Service Dataset.
¶¶The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in Wales. Quintiles are derived by proportioning the derivation score into five equal groups.
***Numbers suppressed as <10. Mixed and other categories are combined.
CHD, coronary heart disease; CKD, coronary kidney disease; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DCW, domiciliary care worker; PEDW, Patient Episode Dataset for Wales; WLGP, Wales Longitudinal General Practice.