738 Electrical Burn Injuries in Occupational and Non-occupational Settings from 2010 to 2021: Cross-sectional Design

TL;DR

This study examines electrical burn injuries in both occupational and non-occupational settings from 2010 to 2021, identifying sociodemographic factors associated with each.

Contribution

The study identifies distinct sociodemographic patterns for occupational and non-occupational electrical burns using a cross-sectional design.

Findings

Occupational electrical burns are more common among males in middle adulthood and during weekdays.

Non-occupational burns are more frequent in early childhood and on weekends.

High school/technician education level is associated with occupational electrical burns.

Abstract

Burns affect 11 million people worldwide annually. Electrically related burns are renowned for inflicting extensive harm and long-term consequences that can lead to severe illness and fatalities. In occupational and non-occupational settings people may be exposed to electrical burns (EBs), which can lead to functional or anatomical consequences. We identified sociodemographic features related to electrical burns in occupational (EBs-occ) and non-occupational (EBs-non_occ) settings.

A cross sectional design, using an open dataset of electrical injuries occurred during 2010-2021 period. Sociodemographic features of people injured in EBs-occ and EBs-non_occ were described counts (%), Incidence*million people (I0;95%CI). To identify related factors (age-sex adjusted) with injuries in EBs-occ and EBs-non_occ, we applied a Binary Logistic Regression (aOR).

Over the course of 11 years occurred 1.274 EBs (I0: 2.47;2.34-2.61), 287 EBs-occ (I0: 1.35;1.20-1.51) and 987 EBs-non_occ (I0: 3.25;3.05-3.46). Age median was 31 years, most cases distributed in middle adulthood (52.8%), male (88.1%), and people with high school/technician (42.8%), urban location (73.7%), weekdays (95.3%), and during daytime hours (85.5%). Factors related to EBs-occ were male sex, middle adulthood, high school/technician, and occurred mainly on thursday and daytime hours. Otherwise, EBs-non_occ factors were early childhood, primary school, urban location, and occurred mostly on weekends.

Both occupational and non-occupational settings pose a risk of injuries to individuals in the workplace. We have identified sociodemographic factors related to these injuries in both occupational and non-occupational settings, which could help to avoid damages and long-term complications, especially among vulnerable individuals such as those at an extreme age.

This information could be helpful in refining existing preventive measures, particularly for non-occupational electrical burns.

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