A National Trauma Data Bank Analysis of Work-Related Versus Non Work-Related Trauma Injury Admissions in the United States, 2017-2022.

Abstract

Background: Trauma registry data have unique characteristics differentiating them from traditional occupational injury surveillance data sources. This study analyzed trauma injury admissions (which includes emergency department encounters regardless of discharge disposition) in the American College of Surgeons National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) to compare worker and injury characteristics of work-related and non-work-related admissions.

Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed admissions among patients aged 14 years and older from the NTDB during 2017-2022. We calculated frequencies for demographic, injury, and outcome characteristics stratified by work-relatedness (injury occurrence during paid employment). Multivariable logistic regression assessed the relationship between demographic and injury characteristics with work-relatedness as the outcome, adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and mechanism of injury.

Results: Of 5,901,246 injuries, 241,328 injuries (4.1%) were work-related. More work-related injuries were in males (87.6% vs. 59.5% of non-work-related) and were unintentional (95.6% vs. 85.1%). The highest proportion of work-related injuries were in the construction industry (29.6%). More work-related admissions required the operating room (19.8% vs. 10.9%). Patients ages 25-44 years and men had higher odds of sustaining work-related injuries compared with other age groups and women. The mechanism of injury with the highest odds of work-relatedness compared to falls (reference) was from machinery (OR_adj 9.39, 95% CI 8.63-10.22).

Conclusions: Trauma registry data can contribute to occupational injury research and surveillance. Strengths include a large sample size, industry and occupation coding, and data on severity, demographics, injury mechanisms, and outcomes. NTDB data could be used to study occupational injury trends among U.S-workers.