1 Department of Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
2 Department of Biostatistics, Rutgers School of Public Health, Piscataway, NJ, USA.
Public Health Rep. 2018 May/Jun;133(3):266-273. doi: 10.1177/0033354918766871. Epub 2018 Apr 13.
Extreme weather events require extensive tree removal and disposal, tasks associated with severe injury risks among workers and residents. To help understand the risks of such activities, we evaluated the impact of a large and destructive storm (Hurricane Sandy in 2012) on the incidence of tree-related injuries.
We searched chief-complaint text fields for patients aged 18-65 from 2011-2014 emergency department visit records submitted by New Jersey hospitals through the state-based syndromic surveillance system. Tree-related keywords (eg, saw, branch, wood chip, woodchip, tree) identified possible injuries that we then reviewed to exclude unrelated cases and classify mechanisms of tree-related injury. We used Poisson regression analysis to evaluate changes in the rates of probable tree-related injuries, adjusting for total emergency department visits and seasonal variation.
We identified 698 probable tree-related injuries from 2011-2014 among patients aged 18-65, including 104 (14.9%) falls, 241 (34.5%) machine-related injuries, 311 (44.6%) struck-by injuries, and 42 (6.0%) other tree-related injuries. Tree-related injuries increased significantly in the quarter immediately after Hurricane Sandy (November 2012-January 2013) compared with the same quarter the year before (rate ratio [RR] = 1.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-2.47) and the year after (RR = 2.47; 95% CI, 1.62-3.78) Hurricane Sandy, especially for struck-by injuries compared with the year before (RR = 2.74; 95% CI, 1.47-5.12) and the year after (RR = 4.17; 95% CI, 2.09-8.32) Hurricane Sandy. More than one-third of the injuries (33.4%) involved chainsaws.
A major hurricane was associated with an increase in tree-related injuries in emergency departments, especially for mechanisms consistent with handling downed and damaged trees. Further research should confirm these findings and evaluate opportunities for preventing tree-related injuries.
极端天气事件需要大量砍伐和处理树木，这与工人和居民的严重受伤风险有关。为了帮助了解这些活动的风险，我们评估了一场大型破坏性风暴（2012 年的飓风桑迪）对与树木有关的伤害发生率的影响。
我们在新泽西州医院通过基于州的综合征监测系统提交的 2011 年至 2014 年期间的急诊就诊记录的主要投诉文本字段中搜索了患者年龄在 18 至 65 岁之间的患者。与树木有关的关键词（例如，锯，树枝，木屑，木片，树）确定了可能的伤害，然后我们对这些伤害进行了审查，以排除无关的病例并对与树木有关的伤害机制进行分类。我们使用泊松回归分析来评估可能与树木有关的伤害发生率的变化，同时调整急诊就诊总人数和季节性变化。
我们从 2011 年至 2014 年期间年龄在 18 至 65 岁的患者中确定了 698 例可能与树木有关的伤害，其中包括 104 例（14.9％）跌倒，241 例（34.5％）机器相关伤害，311 例（44.6％）被击中的伤害和 42 例（6.0％）其他与树木有关的伤害。与飓风桑迪之前一年（RR = 1.67；95％置信区间[CI]，1.13-2.47）和飓风桑迪之后一年（RR = 2.47；95％CI，1.62-3.78）相比，飓风桑迪之后的一个季度（2012 年 11 月至 2013 年 1 月），与树木有关的伤害显着增加，尤其是与飓风桑迪之前一年（RR = 2.74；95％CI，1.47-5.12）和飓风桑迪之后一年（RR = 4.17；95％CI，2.09-8.32）相比，与树木有关的伤害尤其明显。超过三分之一的伤害（33.4％）涉及链锯。
一场大型飓风与急诊部门与树木有关的伤害增加有关，尤其是与处理倒下和受损树木的机制有关。应进一步研究以确认这些发现并评估预防与树木有关的伤害的机会。
