Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (1) global pandemic is transmitted through respiratory droplets from infected people. We aim to determine the risk factors for COVID-19 reinfection, and the degree of its severity in patients reinfected with it. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study on COVID-19 reinfection in Semarang, Indonesia using the two-stage sampling technique. There were a total of 312 participants. We used logistic regression tests for multivariate analysis of reinfection risk associated with various factors. The study spanned from June 2022 to October 2022. RESULTS: We found that symptoms such as cough and sore throat, seen during first infection, often recurred during reinfection. The fixed multivariate result showed that males (OR 3.863; 95% CI 1.459-10.234; P = 0.007), persons having comorbidities (OR 2.382; 95% CI 1.025-5.536; P = 0.044), health workers (OR 32.881; 95% CI 3.120-346.566; P = 0.004) or non-health workers (OR 21.661; 95% CI 2.192-214.034; P = 0.008), persons with mild symptoms (OR 6.503; 95% CI 2.771-15.264; P < 0.001) or moderate symptoms (OR 43.408; 95% CI 5.963-315.980; P < 0.001) at first COVID-19 infection, persons displaying poor rule-following behavior (OR 4.162; 95% CI 1.569-11.037; P = 0.004) and having only a middle school education (OR 0.303; 95% CI 0.098-0.93; P = 0.037) were highly related parameters associated with COVID-19 reinfection. CONCLUSION: Thus, we found that males having comorbidities, employed in public jobs (health and non-health workers), with mild or moderate severity during first infection, and displaying poor rule-following behavior hold the highest risk factors for COVID-19 reinfection. Interestingly, having at least a middle school education seems to be a protective factor against COVID-19 reinfection.