Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Apr 6;86(1):35.
doi: 10.5334/aogh.2698.

Global Prevalence and Device Related Causes of Needle Stick Injuries among Health Care Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Global Prevalence and Device Related Causes of Needle Stick Injuries among Health Care Workers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Salehoddin Bouya et al. Ann Glob Health. .

Abstract

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) suffer more than 2 million occupational needle-stick injuries (NSIs) annually.

Goal: To determine the global prevalence and causes of NSIs among HCWs.

Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, three databases (PubMed, Web of science, and Scopus) were searched for reports from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2018. The random effects model was used to determine the prevalence of NSIs among HCWs. Hoy et al.'s instrument was employed to evaluate the quality of the included studies.

Findings: A total of 87 studies performed on 50,916 HCWs in 31 countries worldwide were included in the study. The one-year global pooled prevalence of NSIs among HCWs was 44.5% (95% CI: 35.7, 53.2). Highest prevalence of NSIs occurred in the South East Asia region at 58.2% (95%, CI: 36.7, 79.8). By job category, prevalence of NSIs was highest among dentists at 59.1% (95% CI: 38.8, 79.4), Hypodermic needles were the most common cause of NSIs at 55.1% (95% CI: 41.4, 68.9).

Conclusion: The current high prevalence of NSIs among HCWs suggests need to improve occupational health services and needle-stick education programs globally.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flow diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Global Prevalence of Needlestick injuries among health care workers based on WHO region.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Global Prevalence of Needle stick injuries among health care workers based on Countries.

References

    1. World Health Organization (WHO). Needlestick injuries. 2019; Available from: https://www.who.int/occupational_health/topics/needinjuries/en/.
    1. Whitby RM, McLaws ML. Hollow-bore needlestick injuries in a tertiary teaching hospital: epidemiology, education and engineering. Medical Journal of Australia. 2002; 177(8): 418–22. DOI: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04881.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). STOP STICKS CAMPAIGN–Sharps Injuries. 2019; Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/stopsticks/sharpsinjuries.html.
    1. Himmelreich H, Rabenau HF, Rindermann M, et al. The management of needlestick injuries. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International. 2013; 110(5): 61 DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2013.0061 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pruss-Ustun A, Rapiti E, Hutin Y. Estimation of the global burden of disease attributable to contaminated sharps injuries among health-care workers. American journal of industrial medicine. 2005; 48(6): 482–90. Epub 2005/11/22. DOI: 10.1002/ajim.20230 - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms