Dobson Kathleen G, Mustard Cameron, Carnide Nancy, Furlan Andrea, Smith Peter M
Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Occup Environ Med. 2022 Jul 28;79(10):697-705. doi: 10.1136/oemed-2022-108383.
While most individuals physically injured at work will make a complete medical recovery, a portion of workers will experience persistent pain following their injury. This study estimated persistent pain prevalence and its association with health and return-to-work outcomes 18 months following the incidence of a disabling work-related injury.
We studied 1131 workers disabled by a work-related injury who were recruited from a sampling frame of disability benefit claimants in Ontario, Canada. Work injuries and claim benefits characteristics from administrative data were linked with measures of work status, pain symptoms, and physical and mental health obtained from telephone interviews completed 18 months postinjury. Associations of persistent pain symptoms with health and employment outcomes 18 months postinjury were estimated using multinomial and linear regression.
Roughly 30% of participants reported no pain symptoms in the previous 4 weeks, 45% reported mild pain symptoms and 25% reported severe pain symptoms accompanied by substantial functional impairment. Workers with severe pain symptoms were more likely to not be currently working at 18 months (33%) vs those without pain symptoms (16%), and had poorer self-reported physical and mental health. Workers with severe pain symptoms had higher probabilities of benefit durations of 12-18 months (OR=9.35), higher lost-earnings costs (47.7% higher) and higher healthcare expenditure costs at 18 months (125.9% higher) compared with those with no pain symptoms.
Persistent pain symptom prevalence 18 months postinjury is high among workers disabled by a work-related injury and associated with substantial functional impairment and longer wage replacement benefit duration.
虽然大多数在工作中身体受伤的人会完全康复，但仍有一部分工人在受伤后会持续疼痛。本研究估计了致残性工伤发生18个月后持续疼痛的患病率及其与健康和重返工作岗位结果的关联。
我们研究了1131名因工伤致残的工人，他们是从加拿大安大略省残疾福利申领者的抽样框架中招募的。行政数据中的工伤和申领福利特征与工作状态、疼痛症状以及受伤18个月后通过电话访谈获得的身心健康指标相关联。使用多项和线性回归估计受伤18个月后持续疼痛症状与健康和就业结果的关联。
大约30%的参与者报告在过去4周内没有疼痛症状，45%报告有轻度疼痛症状，25%报告有严重疼痛症状并伴有严重功能障碍。有严重疼痛症状的工人在18个月时更有可能目前没有工作（33%），而没有疼痛症状的工人这一比例为16%，并且自我报告的身心健康状况较差。与没有疼痛症状的工人相比，有严重疼痛症状的工人获得12 - 18个月福利期的概率更高（OR = 9.35），收入损失成本更高（约高47.7%），18个月时的医疗支出成本更高（约高125.9%）。
工伤致残工人在受伤18个月后持续疼痛症状的患病率很高，并且与严重功能障碍和更长的工资替代福利期相关。
