Emergency department surveillance of occupational injuries in Shanghai's Putuo District, People's Republic of China.
OBJECTIVE
Although the People's Republic of China has an enormous worker population, occupational injury data availability has been hindered by the lack of a national surveillance system. This study compared work with non-work-related injuries by diagnosis, cause, and demographic characteristics of cases treated in a moderate-sized emergency department (ED) in Shanghai.


METHODS
Data on all injury cases presenting to the ED were collected prospectively from November 1, 1998 through November 31, 1999 at the Putuo District Hospital.


RESULTS
A total of 5200 injuries were recorded; 3175 (61.1%) injuries occurred in individuals aged 18 to 60 years and of these, 38% occurred at work, 15.8% occurred going to or coming from work, and 46.2% were non-work-related. Top three causes of at-work-only injuries were cutting/piercing instruments, assault, and struck by/caught in objects. Injuries caused by machinery (prevalence ratio [PR]=2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2-2.6) and being struck by a falling object (PR=1.8; CI, 1.6-2.1) were among those more likely to have occurred at work.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings are an important first step in implementing injury surveillance in Shanghai hospitals to track injury patterns and to ultimately inform injury prevention efforts in this major international urban center.
Perry
Melissa J
MJ
Occupational Health Program, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mperry@hsph.harvard.edu
Sun
Bi-Xioang
BX
Zhang
Hong-Xi
HX
Wang
Xiaorong
X
Christiani
David
D
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology*