Direct Healthcare Costs of Moderate and Severe Work-Related Injuries: Estimates from the National Trauma Center of Qatar.

Hassan Al-Thani,Ayman El-Menyar,Ruben Peralta,Adnan A Hyder,Ahammed Mekkodathil,Amber Mehmood,Rafael J Consunji,Brijesh Sathian,Nazia Hirani,Aisha Abeid

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031609

Abstract

Work-related injuries (WRIs) are recognized as a leading cause of admission to the national trauma center of Qatar. A retrospective analysis of trauma registry data and electronic medical records was conducted on a cohort of all WRI patients who were admitted to the Hamad Trauma Center (HTC), in Doha, Qatar, between 2011 and 2017. A total of 3757 WRI patients were treated at the HTC over the 7-year study period. The overall cost for treatment was 124,671,431 USD (18 million USD per year), with a median cost of 19,071 USD. There was a strong positive correlation between the overall cost and hospital-stay cost (r2 = 0.949, p = 0.00001) and between the overall cost and procedure cost (r2 = 0.852, p = 0.00001). Motor vehicle crash (MVC) victims who wore seatbelts had significantly lower injury severity, hospital stay and median total costs. A comparison of patients by quartiles of the costs incurred showed that the proportions of MVC victims, pedestrian injuries and mortality were significantly higher in the fourth quartile when compared to other quartiles (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that investments in the primary prevention of work-related injuries from falls and MVCs, through proven interventions, should be priorities for occupational safety and health in Qatar.

Highlights

Work-related injuries (WRIs) remain a significant public health problem, as nearly half of the population across the world (3.5 billion) are workers and hazardous working conditions can increase their risk for injuries [1]
The most common mechanism of WRI was falls from height (47.7%), followed by motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) (19.0%) and falling of heavy objects or hit by objects (16.9%)
The direct medical costs associated with work-related injuries in Qatar amounted to over 125 million US dollars (USD) over this study period

Summary

Introduction

Work-related injuries (WRIs) remain a significant public health problem, as nearly half of the population across the world (3.5 billion) are workers and hazardous working conditions can increase their risk for injuries [1]. More than 2 million people die from work-related diseases and injuries. It was estimated that work-related health issues result in an economic loss of 4–6% of GDP [1]. WRIs are most reported among migrant workers, especially in those from low- and middle-income countries working in the Middle East, Europe and North America, as they are more likely to be employed in high-risk industries [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. This has put its occupational safety environment under scrutiny from global media despite scientific studies that report dramatic reductions in the incidence of WRIs [11]

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