Patterns of work-related traumatic hand injury among hospitalised workers in the People's Republic of China.
OBJECTIVE
This study describes the type, location and severity of work-related acute traumatic hand injuries of 560 workers treated in 11 hospitals in three economically active cities in the People's Republic of China (PRC) over a 2-year period.


METHODS
A structured questionnaire was used to collect participant's information. Log-linear and logistic models were constructed to identify factors associated with injury occurrence and severity, respectively.


RESULTS
Participants (n=560) had a mean age of 31.7 years (SD 10.5), 74.4% were men. 85.4% of participants were employed in manufacturing industries; 51.7% of 750 injuries were to the left hand. The index finger was injured most often and the most severe injury occurred to the right thumb. 68.3% of participants had only a single type of injury (29.7% crushes, 25.7% amputations and 18.5% fractures). Severe injuries occurred most often while working with food products (79.2% severe), furniture (72.2%), non-metallic mineral products (71.4%) and wood products (70.6%). Powered machines were involved in 59.5% of injuries. Injury frequency was associated with gender (male vs female, odds ratio (OR) 2.9, 95% CI 2.4 to 3.5) and company size (<or=100 vs >100 employees, OR 2.5, 95% CI 2.1 to 3.1). Injury severity was associated with gender (male vs female OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4 to 0.9) and powered machine use (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.3 to 3.7).


CONCLUSIONS
The present study suggests that working in manufacturing industries and working with powered machines are the primary sources of severe hand injuries in hospitalised workers in economically active areas of the PRC.
Jin
Kezhi
K
Fudan School of Public Health, Shanghai, PR China. Jinkz@shmu.edu.cn
Lombardi
David A
DA
Courtney
Theodore K
TK
Sorock
Gary S
GS
Li
Mingqiang
M
Pan
Rong
R
Wang
Xin
X
Lin
Jie
J
Liang
Youxin
Y
Perry
Melissa J
MJ
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006230:Hand Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D055815:Young Adult