The impact of body mass index on nonfatal traumatic occupational injury in hourly manufacturing employees.

摘要

Recent studies have found that body mass index (BMI, weight [kg]/height [m]2), may increase the risk of traumatic occupational injuries among adults. The importance of BMI as a potential risk factor for workplace injury is underscored as an estimated 100 million U.S. working-aged adults are currently characterized as either overweight or obese.; Five company databases were linked to investigate the association between BMI and traumatic injury. Data from 9,101 hourly employees on the payroll in 2002 at a large multi-site metal manufacturer was used for this study. Employees were followed from January 1, 2002 through December 31, 2004 for all injury events.; Research findings are presented in three manuscripts. The first manuscript is a literature review that synthesized results from studies that have evaluated BMI as an occupational injury risk factor. This review revealed that the association between BMI and injury has been addressed sporadically in the literature, and that the findings were inconsistent and often not statistically significant. The second manuscript is a descriptive study that reported on the distribution of the 3,563 traumatic injuries to 2,495 employees, and showed increased odds ratios of injury for women, Hispanics, younger workers, new hires and those in their current job for less than one year. The third manuscript presents a time to event analysis using 7,690 hourly workers with available height and weight measurements to investigate BMI as a risk factor for injury. After controlling for potential confounders, results showed an increased risk of injury for overweight, obese, and severely obese workers when compared with workers having a normal BMI.; Results from this dissertation revealed that traumatic occupational injuries remain a significant problem among manufacturing employees, and that BMI is an emerging risk factor for injury that warrants attention. Injury reduction programs should focus on controlling hazardous energy exposures and consider adding weight reduction and maintenance programs as potentially effective injury countermeasures. Future research is needed to continue to explore the nexus of health and injury, and to guide the implementation and evaluation of interventions aimed at curtailing both injury and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the workplace.