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Incidence Rates, Costs, Severity, and Work-Related Factors of Occupational Dermatitis

2005; American Medical Association; Volume: 141; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1001/archderm.141.6.713

1538-3652

Brian P. McCall, Irwin B. Horwitz, Steven R. Feldman, Rajesh Balkrishnan,

Agricultural safety and regulations

Objectives To extend and update past research on occupational dermatitis by examining recent workers' compensation claims data. Design Retrospective analysis of workers' compensation claims from Oregon (1990-1997). Setting All dermatitis-related workers' compensation claims were merged with US census data to estimate rates of dermatitis by age, sex, occupation, and industry. Associated claim costs and disability times were also calculated from these data. Participants All individuals with accepted dermatitis claims (N = 611) were included in the analyses. Main Outcome Measures The overall claim rates of individuals by age, sex, industry, and occupation were estimated. Total costs and average disability time were computed. Monthly patterns of dermatitis claims were examined. Results The average claim rate of occupational dermatitis was estimated to be 5.73 per 100 000 workers (95% confidence interval, 5.66-5.80). Statistically significant differences ( P <.001) in claim rates by age, sex, industry, and occupation were found. More than 47% of all claimants had 1 year of job tenure or less. Employees in the farming, forestry, and fishing occupations and industries had significantly higher claim rates compared with employees in other occupations. The average cost per claim was $3552, and the average disability time was 23.9 days. Some temporal trends in claim rates were observed. Conclusions Occupational dermatitis remains a significant problem in workplace settings. In addition, certain types of occupations and industries seem to be particularly affected by occupational dermatitis. Interventions may be particularly valuable for workers with little job tenure.