Differential psychosocial consequences between male and female workers who have suffered an amputation in an occupational accident.

Background: The main goals of this study are to determine the sociodemographic, occupational and psychosocial characteristics and type of amputation of people affected by occupational amputations in Navarre, Spain, and to analyse the differing characteristics based on sex.

Methods: People affected by occupational amputations in Navarra between January 2000 and December 2019 were identified by the Public and Work Health Institute of Navarre. Sociodemographic, amputation, psychopathological (Symptom Checklist, SCL-90-R; Severity Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale-Revised, EGS-R), maladjustment (Maladjustment Scale), pain (Numeric Pain Rating Scale) and suicide (Columbia Scale Screening for Suicidal Ideation, C-SSRS) characteristics were assessed.

Results: Of the 557 workers identified, 80 were included in the study. The results showed the presence of relevant psychosocial repercussions with a moderately high level of psychopathological symptoms, a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) prevalence rate of 10%, re-experimentation as the most relevant symptom, and labour and leisure as the most affected areas. Sex differences were found in PTSD re-experimentation symptoms (higher in women) and leisure maladjustment (higher in men). No sex differences were found in the remaining variables studied.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the relevance of psychosocial consequences in workers with amputations. Research on this topic is necessary due to the scarcity of studies conducted to date.