A survey on occupational injuries and related factors among emergency patients of Mashhad teaching hospitals over a year

Abstract

Background: Occupational injuries (OI) are a - significant source of social and economic costs. They can cause prolonged absences from work, loss of limb, and worker disability, among other negative consequences. In light of this, the present study aimed to evaluate the factors associated with OI in trauma centers affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among patients admitted to the trauma ward of four teaching hospitals in Mashhad during 2019-2020. Patients’ data was collected in a checklist and trauma severity was assessed based on injury severity score. The Epworth questionnaire was completed for patients. Data was analyzed by SPSS 20.0.

Results: Out of a total of 13660 patients who were referred to the emergency department of four hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 683 (5.15%) individuals suffered occupational trauma and entered the study. The mean (±SD) age and work experience of the participants were 34 (±10) and 10 (±9) respectively. Most of the participants were in the age group of 20-40 years. the most common mechanism of trauma was falling (p=0.00) and the most injury frequency was among manual working (p=0.01). There was not a significant association between trauma severity and demographic characteristics. Those who had falling or electric accidents had more severe trauma compared to other injured patients. (p=0.00).

Conclusion: In general, the most burden of occupational accidents and in fact, the most serious injuries were related to men and manual workers. Also, most of the injuries happened through falls and cuts. The results of this study showed the need for serious policies to reduce occupational injuries.