J Korean Med Sci.  2023 Aug;38(34):e269. 10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e269.

Risk Factors Related to COVID-19 Reinfection and Fatality During the Omicron (BA.1/BA.2) Period in Korea

• Lee JH
• Hwang JH
• Jang EJ
• Kim RK
• Lee KH
• Park SK
• Gwack J
• Park YJ

• KMID: 2545545
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e269

Abstract

Background
This study aimed to investigate the deaths due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reinfection and related risk factors.
Methods
National cohort data were collected for a six-month period when omicron BA.1/BA.2 variant was dominant in South Korea.
Results
The long-term care facility residents (adjusted odds ratio, 3.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.98–3.25) had significantly higher risk of reinfection than the general population. The risk of reinfection was significantly lower for persons with 2 or more vaccine doses compared to the unvaccinated. The risk of death was significantly higher in the reinfection group than in the primary infection group for persons in the 60–74 years age group (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 1.62; 95% CI, 1.19–2.20), and immunocompromised group (aRR, 4.56; 95% CI, 2.34–8.90).
Conclusion
In these data, vaccination history was significantly related to reduced COVID-19 reinfection and severe progression, and scheduled vaccinations were important even with a history of infection.

Keyword

COVID-19; Reinfection; SARS-CoV-2; SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant; Death

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Weekly distribution of (A) total number of confirmed cases and rate of reinfection; (B) reinfection cases.

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