Increased All-Cause Mortality Following Occupational Injury: A Comparison of Two States

Details

• Personal Author:
  Applebaum KM ; Asfaw A ; Boden LI ; Busey A ; Fox MP ; O'Leary PK ; Stokes AC ; Tripodis Y
• Description:
  Objectives: To measure the impact of lost-time occupational injuries on all-cause mortality in Washington State and, using the same data elements and study design, to determine whether the estimated impact was similar to previous estimates for New Mexico. Methods: We linked injuries in the Washington workers' compensation system with Social Security Administration data on earnings and mortality. We estimated Cox survival models of mortality for women and men with lost-time compared with medical-only injuries, adjusting for age, pre-injury earnings and industry. We used quantitative bias analysis to account for confounding by pre-injury smoking and obesity. Results: The estimated mortality HR was 1.24 for women (95% CI 1.21 to 1.28) and 1.22 for men (95% CI 1.20 to 1.24). After adjusting for unmeasured pre-injury smoking and obesity, the estimated HR for women was 1.10, 95% simulation interval (SI) 1.00 to 1.21; for men, it was 1.15, 95% SI 1.04 to 1.27. Conclusions: All-cause mortality for Washington workers with lost-time injuries was higher than for those with medical-only injuries. Estimated HRs for Washington were consistent with those previously estimated for New Mexico, a less populous state with lower median wages and a different workers' compensation insurance mechanism. This suggests that the relationship between workplace injury and long-term mortality may be generalizable to other US states. These findings support greater efforts to enhance safety and to investigate factors that improve postinjury employment opportunities and long-term health. This association should be examined in additional locations, with different study conditions, or using additional data on pre-injury risk factors. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Dust Engineering Mining Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Lost Work Days Mortality Data Obesity Public Health Quantitative Analysis Smoking Traumatic Injuries Workers Compensation
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OD - Office of the Director
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  79
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066217
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2022 Dec; 79(12):816-823
• Contact Point Address:
  Leslie I. Boden, Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA
• Email:
  lboden@bu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  Boston University Medical Campus
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20180930
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20220929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fb568f3511969649053e7c3281e250f6b50c1ff61b7f94ff9f50e2d8022b4b8b1b8491257dedcb19c2ef99e84fdd1adc941cb767a9e03cb090529b1ee08b1144
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/212708/cdc_212708_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 591.90 KB ]