Health-care barriers for workers with HAVS in Ontario, Canada

Hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) becomes irreversible unless it is identified early and progression prevented.

To describe the health-care-seeking behaviours of workers with HAVS and barriers to health care.

We invited all patients assessed for HAVS between 15 January and 27 March 2013 at a hospital-based occupational health clinic (OHC) in Ontario, Canada, to complete a questionnaire asking why and from whom they sought health care, reasons they waited to seek care and barriers they encountered in accessing care. We analysed the data using descriptive statistics.

Forty-one (82%) patients agreed to participate. Thirty-seven had confirmed HAVS; 30 (84%) were Stockholm workshop vascular stage 2 or greater and 35 (97%) were sensorineural stage 1 or greater. The commonest employment sectors were construction [21 (57%)] and mining [6 (17%)]. The main reasons for seeking treatment were pain [11 (30%)], finger numbness [8 (22%)] and functional limitations [5 (14%)]. The commonest initial point of health care was the family physician [23 (66%)]. The mean wait between symptom onset and seeking treatment was 3.4 years, while the mean time between onset and OHC assessment was 9 years. Reasons for delay in seeking care were ignorance of the seriousness and irreversibility of HAVS and ability to continue to work. Family physicians suspected HAVS in 17% of cases and recommended job modification in 34%.

Workers with HAVS in Ontario delay seeking health care. Primary care physicians often fail to recognize HAVS. Barriers to health care include ignorance of HAVS and of the importance of prevention.