Demographic factors in a population-based survey of hospitalized, work-related, ocular injury.

PURPOSE

To obtain population-based estimates of the incidence of severe work-related ocular trauma and to identify demographic factors related to increased risk of this type of injury.

METHODS

A statewide population-based survey of severe work-related ocular injury was performed using hospital discharge data. These data were derived from all inpatient admissions to nonfederal, acute-care hospital facilities in the state of California during 1988. Worker's compensation was used as the principal payor code to establish the work-relatedness of a given ocular injury. Census data for the state of California were used to obtain population denominators.

RESULTS

Two hundred sixty-nine (approximately 14.3%) of all admissions for which ocular trauma was the principal diagnosis (1,876) were work related. Annual incidence for severe work-related ocular injury was 1.76 per 100,000 employed persons when ocular trauma was the principal diagnosis and 2.98 per 100,000 employed persons when ocular trauma was a principal or secondary diagnosis. Projected to the working-age United States population (128 million) these annual rates correspond to an estimated 2,165 acute hospitalizations for work-related ocular trauma as the principal diagnosis, and an estimated 3,745 acute hospitalizations for work-related ocular trauma as a principal or secondary diagnosis. Incidence of severe work-related ocular injury was highest among men, Hispanics, and individuals 20 to 24 years of age (5.02, 3.72, and 4.64 per 100,000 employed per year, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

The workplace accounts for a substantial proportion of severe ocular injury. Demographic groups at highest risk for this type of injury are men, Hispanics, and young adults.