Emergent occupational injuries presenting to hospital during increasing and extreme heat days in Illinois (USA).

Abstract

The changing climate and rising occurrence of heat events may impact incidence and severity of occupational traumatic injuries. The objective of this research is to characterize the association between daily hospital presentations for work-related traumatic injuries and temperature in Illinois, USA. The Illinois outpatient and inpatient hospital databases were used to identify work-related traumatic injuries treated in Illinois hospitals during the summer months from May to September between 2017 to 2023. National weather service data was used to assess temperature metrics in Illinois. We used generalized linear mixed models to examine the association between daily hospital presentations for work-related traumatic injuries and two temperature related events: (1) extreme heat days and (2) days with increasing temperatures above 76°F(24.4 °C) as workers begin to acclimate to increasing ambient temperatures. Models were stratified by worker demographics, cause and nature of injury. Over the study period there were 95,038 hospital presentations for work-related traumatic injuries.. We observed a significant daily increase in traumatic injuries of 1.52% (95%CI: 0.19%, 2.87%, p < 0.05) during days with sequentially increasing temperatures above 76°F(24.4 °C). Workers aged 16-19 years, Hispanic workers, and workers presenting with open wound injuries and injuries caused by contact with or against objects also showed significant increase in injuries. An increase on extreme heat days in the adjusted models was seen in traumatic brain injuries (22.74%, 95%CI: 2.57, 46.86%, p < 0.05). Results indicate differences in susceptibility to traumatic injuries by demographic characteristics and mechanisms of injury during both periods of acclimatization to heat and extreme heat days.