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Investigating the Longer-Term Health Consequences of Work-Related Injuries among Youth
July 2006
| Principal Investigator: | Mieke Koehoorn (University of British Columbia) | |
| Co-investigators: |
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For more information about this project, please contact Dr. Mieke Koehoorn.
Issue
Work-related injuries can have a serious and permanent impact for young workers, but there has been little research on the long term effects. This study assesses the long term health consequences for injured young workers in B.C., by comparing their levels of health care use (beyond compensation benefits) with levels for individuals in the same age group who did not have a compensation claim.
Key findings
- Youth with a work-related injury were likelier to have a high level of health care use (visits to a General Practitioner) over the long term. The number of GP visits was highest following a work injury but there was also a steady increase in visits during the period before a claim was filed.
- For young workers, musculoskeletal injuries in particular were associated with higher levels of health care use.
Objectives
- To investigate the longer term consequences of young worker injuries.
- To assess whether compensation claims for young workers are associated with greater levels of health care use over the long term, including before and after a claim is filed.
- To identify the types of young worker injuries that are associated with greater increases in health care use.
Method
The experience of young workers who filed a workers compensation claim between 1991 and 2000 was examined using workers’ compensation and health care data from the B.C. Linked Health Database.
To examine the impact of injury on health care use, the annual number of General Practitioner (GP) visits for young B.C. workers with a single workers’ compensation claim was compared with a sample of individuals without a claim, matched on age, gender and geographic residence.
Statistical analyses were conducted to identify which risk factors, such as type of injury, were most closely associated with the highest numbers of annual GP visits.
Results
- Young people with a workers’ compensation claim were more likely to have the highest levels of health care use (13-14 GP visits per year) than young people in the comparison group.
- Having a workers’ compensation claim also increased the likllihood of a long term pattern of high, regular GP visits.
- Having a work-related MSI also increased the likelihood of having the highest level of health care use.
Conclusions
The findings indicate that work-related injuries among young workers, particularly recurring conditions such as MSIs, can result in significant long term health consequences. Youth with work-related injuries were more likely to access medical services in the universal health care system, pointing to a potential shifting of health care from the workers compensation system to the publicly funded health care system for recurrent conditions such as sprains and strains.
Future directions
The findings reinforce the need to develop specific prevention strategies for young workers. Other potential areas for future research are: the role of health care providers before a youth workers’ compensation claim starts; rehabilitation and return to work for injured youth; and the conditions of work for youth (particularly in relation to MSIs and their longer term consequences for youth).
Future research to replicate these findings is also needed.
Publications and conference presentations
Koehoorn M, Breslin C, Xu F. Investigating the long-term consequences of injuries among young workers. EPICOH 2004: 17th International Symposium on Epidemiology in Occupational Health. October 13-16, 2004; Melbourne, Australia. Abstract appears in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 61, e51.
Koehoorn M, Breslin C, Xu F. Using trajectory analysis for occupational health research. Canadian Association of Research on Work and Health, June 2006. St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Koehoorn M, Breslin C, Xu F. The longer-term consequences of work-related injuries among youth. Journal article submitted to Youth and Society (July 2006)