Journal of occupational and environmental medicine
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J. Occup. Environ. Med. · Oct 1998
Comparative StudyA comparison of work-related injury visits and other injury visits to emergency departments in the United States, 1995-1996.
Estimates of nonfatal work-related injuries range from 6 to 13 million annually, and the most serious of these injuries are presented to hospital emergency departments (EDs). To describe work-related injury ED visits in the United States, we examined data from the 1995-1996 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which is a national probability sample survey of visits to EDs of non-federal, short-stay, and general hospitals. In 1995-1996, an annual average of 4 million work-related injury ED visits were made by persons 16 years of age and over. ⋯ Males had higher work-related injury visit rates (4.3 per 100 FTEs) than females (2.4 per 100 FTEs). The leading cause of injury and diagnosis for work-related injury ED visits were "cuts" (16%) and "open wound" (22%), respectively. Determining appropriate preventive action will reduce the number of workers injured and may result in financial savings for industries and health care systems.
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J. Occup. Environ. Med. · Oct 1998
Somatic complaints disproportionately contribute to Beck Depression Inventory estimates of depression severity in individuals with multiple chemical sensitivity.
A number of individuals with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) are also diagnosed with depression. However, there is content overlap in MCS and symptoms of depression with respect to somatic complaints. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to document severity of depressive symptomatology in 42 individuals with MCS. ⋯ An item analysis of the BDI revealed that individuals with MCS tended to endorse more somatic-performance items than did a sample of depressed outpatients. Two alternative interpretations are possible: (a) the BDI total score overestimated severity of depressive symptomatology in this sample, and/or (b) individuals with MCS tended to express depressive symptomatology in terms of somatic complaints. It was recommended that until the etiology of MCS is better understood, caution be used when estimating severity of depressive symptomatology in individuals with MCS when measures include somatic items.