Abstract
Recent studies in Spain have shown that males, younger workers, and people involved in manual jobs had the highest risk of suffering a work-related eye injury (WREI). This study aims to assess the predictors of sick leave associated with WREI and to compare them with risk factors of initial injury. A retrospective and descriptive study of WREI that causes sick leave of one or more days among workers from an insurance labor mutual company in Spain was conducted over a period from 2008 to 2018. The variables of the study were sex, age, occupation, and type of injury. A total of 9352 (18.6% of 50,265 WREI) cases and 113,395 total days of sick leave were observed, with an estimated EUR 4,994,009.59 of associated labor cost. The main predictors of sick leave related to WREI were found to be female (highest incidence; 25.9 (95% CI (24.8–27.1))), >55 years of age (highest incidence; 20.5 (95% CI (19.3–21.7))), not working in the industry (lowest incidence; 13.8 (95% CI (13.3–14.2))), and not suffering “other disorders of conjunctiva” (lowest incidence; 5.7 (95% CI (4.7–6.8))). The consequences associated with WREI are worse for female and older workers, despite the main risk of suffering WREI being observed in males and younger workers.
Highlights
61% were due to a foreign body, 17% were due to trauma, 17% were due to burns, and 2% were due to infections [4]
Women and workers over 55 were the groups with the highest risks of taking sick leave. These results suggest that, younger workers have a higher risk of suffering a work-related eye injuries (WREI), the consequences of these are worse for older workers, possibly related to the different physical conditions between the two age groups
Being a woman, being more than 55 years old, not working in the industry sector, and suffering an injury in an ocular structure different from conjunctiva are the predictors for taking sick leave related to WREI
Summary
There are few studies about work-related eye injuries (WREI) in Spain, and all of them included very few subjects. In 2005, Olmos-Zapata et al published a retrospective study between 1996 and 2001. They followed 25 patients requiring hospitalization and surgery for serious ocular traumatism due to a foreign intraocular body. Of those accidents, 72% occurred at work, and agriculture was the sector with the highest number [3]. 56% were caused at work, and the types of injury included ruptures, intraocular foreign bodies, perforating injury, penetrating injury, and mixed injury [5]. A recent study from Guzman-Almagro et al analyzed data
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