title: Examining occupational traumatic brain injury in Ontario.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Occupational traumatic brain injuries disrupt the lives of workers and carry major economic repercussions. To date, there has been limited information on brain injuries that occur at work across injury severity levels in Canada. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of occupational traumatic brain injuries in Ontario, with a focus on the sex of the workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this cross-sectional study, data from the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board were used. A retrospective chart review was conducted of over 1,500 claim files from the year 2004 with the diagnostic codes of concussion and intracranial injury. Severity was assessed according to data on days off work.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age of those injured was 37.8 years. The breakdown by sex shows that 57.8% of claims for occupational traumatic brain injury involved males. The most common mechanism of injury was being "struck by or against", followed by "falls". Most of the occupational traumatic brain injuries were from the manufacturing, and government and related services sectors. The highest rate, however, was shown for transportation and storage (81.5/100,000), followed by government and related services (56.6/100,000) and primary industries (47/100,000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An examination of occupational traumatic brain injuries across a range of severities reveals a profile that is different from that associated with more severely injured workers: there were many more women in particular industries who were injured and more injuries involving being struck by an object. This paper provides data on key industries, mechanisms and contributing factors involved in work-related traumatic brain injury that result in claims to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.
authors.affiliation: Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Department of Occupational Science, University of Toronto, 160-500 University Ave., Toronto, ON MG 1V7. Angela.colantonio@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colantonio
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mroczek
authors.forename: Jigisha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lewko
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fergenbaum
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brison
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology