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. 2017 Jun 6;14(6):604.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph14060604.

Work-Related Eye Injuries: A Relevant Health Problem. Main Epidemiological Data from a Highly-Industrialized Area of Northern Italy

Fabriziomaria Gobba  1 , Enrico Dall'Olio  2 , Alberto Modenese  3 , Michele De Maria  4 , Luca Campi  5 , Gian Maria Cavallini  6
Affiliations

Work-Related Eye Injuries: A Relevant Health Problem. Main Epidemiological Data from a Highly-Industrialized Area of Northern Italy

Fabriziomaria Gobba et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The province of Modena is one of the most industrialized areas of Northern Italy. The medical records of the Ophthalmological Emergency Department (OED) of Modena University Hospital were studied: there were 13,470 OED accesses in 2014 and in 754 cases that an occupational eye injury occurred. The frequency of work-related eye injuries (3‰) was lower compared to other published studies, but the absolute number is still relevant, showing the need for more adequate prevention, especially in metal work, construction work, and agriculture, where the worst prognoses were observed. Intervention programs must be implemented as early as possible in the working life, considering that the frequency in younger workers is about double that of the oldest age class (3.5‰ vs. 1.8‰), and special attention should also be given to foreigners, who have a 50% higher injury risk. Furthermore, the planning of specific interventions for eye-injured workers may be useful, considering that a previous injury does not appear to encourage the adoption of preventive interventions, and a subgroup of eye-injured workers have a potential risk for new injuries. Finally, the data presented here indicates how OED records, integrated with specific occupational information, can be applied for studies on work-related eye injuries.

Keywords: occupational accident prevention; ophthalmological emergency; work-related eye injury.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annual frequency of work-related eye injuries per 1000 workers employed in 2014 in the province of Modena, considering their age classes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of work-related eye injuries in 2014 in the province of Modena according to the hour of access to the Ophthalmological Emergency Department (OED).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of work-related eye injuries in 2014 in the province of Modena according to the day of access to the Ophthalmological Emergency Department (OED).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Number of work-related eye injuries in 2014 in the province of Modena in agriculture, industry and the services sectors, according to the month of access to the Ophthalmological Emergency Department (OED).
Figure 5
Figure 5
The annual frequency of work-related eye-injuries per 1000 workers employed in 2014 in the province of Modena, considering the main working sectors classified according to the “Attività Economiche” (ATECO) classification codes.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Types of eye injuries classified according to the 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) on the total of the 2014 accesses at the Ophthalmological Emergency Department (OED) of the province of Modena for work-related eye injuries.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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