Incidence of COVID-19 reinfection: an analysis of outpatient-based data in the United States of America

Abstract ObjectivesCOVID-19 reinfection cases are evidence of antibody waning in recovered individuals. Previous studies had reported cases of COVID-19 reinfection both in hospital-based and community-based data. However, limited studies reported COVID-19 reinfection in large community-based data. The present study aimed to provide the incidence of COVID-19 reinfection based on secondary data in the U.S. Study designCross-sectional study MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data provided by COVID-19 Research Database, i.e., Healthjump. Reinfection were defined as diagnosed COVID-19 (U07.1= confirmed virus identified) twice with ≥90 days interval between diagnosis. Age, gender, and region data were also explored. A Chi-square test continued by a binary logistic regression was conducted to determine the association between parameters. Data collecting and processing were done in the Amazon workspace. ResultsThe study revealed 3,778 reinfection cases of 116,932 COVID-19 infected cases (3.23%). Reinfection cases were more common in females (3.35%) than males (3.23%). Elderly subjects were the highest incidence (5.13%), followed by adult (4.14%), young adults (2.35%), and children (1.09%). Proportion in the region of living northeast was the highest (3.68%), compared to the south (3.49%), west (2.59%), and midwest (2.48%). ConclusionThe incidence of COVID-19 reinfection was 3.23%, suggesting our concern with COVID-19 management and future research to understand COVID-19 reinfection better. The incident is more likely to occur in female and elderly patients.