Injuries at work in the US adult population: contributions to the total injury burden

Objectives: We estimated the contribution of nonfatal work-related injuries on the injury burden among working-age adults (aged 18-64 years) in the United States. Methods. We used the 1997-1999 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to estimate injury rates and proportions of work-related vs non-work-related injuries. Results. An estimated 19.4 million medically treated injuries occurred annually to working-age adults (11.7 episodes per 100 persons; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 11.3, 12.1); 29%, or 5.5 million (4.5 per 100 persons; 95% CI = 4.2, 4.7), occurred at work and varied by gender, age, and race/ethnicity. Among employed persons, 38% of injuries occurred at work, and among employed men aged 55-64 years, 49% of injuries occurred at work. Conclusions. Injuries at work comprise a substantial part of the injury burden, accounting for nearly half of all injuries in some age groups. The NHIS provides an important source of population-based data with which to determine the work relatedness of injuries. Study estimates of days away from work after injury were 1.8 times higher than the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) workplace-based estimates and 1.4 times as high as BLS estimates for private industry. The prominence of occupational injuries among injuries to working-age adults reinforces the need to examine workplace conditions in efforts to reduce the societal impact of injuries. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2004.049338)