Work-related traumatic finger and thumb amputations: 20-year trends

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Traumatology
• Public Health Surveillance

Background:

• Traumatic finger/thumb amputations are common, preventable occupational injuries causing significant burdens.
• These injuries impact individuals physically, psychologically, and financially.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate 20-year trends in work-related digit amputation incidence in Victoria, Australia (2003/2004–2022/2023).
• To analyze patient profiles and hospital burden associated with these amputations (2013/2014–2022/2023).

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset for hospital admissions data.
• Employed Poisson regression for trend analysis and descriptive statistics for patient/hospital burden analysis.

Main Results:

• Age-standardized incidence declined significantly from 12.54 to 4.71 per 100,000 employed persons (annual reduction of 4.655%).
• Males accounted for 91% of cases, with higher rates in regional/rural areas. Mechanical forces caused 95% of amputations.
• 2144 admissions recorded (2013/2014–2022/2023), totaling 5055 bed days.

Conclusions:

• Work-related digit amputations have significantly declined but remain a concern.
• Male workers and those in regional/rural areas are disproportionately affected.
• Targeted prevention strategies focusing on high-risk groups and machinery safety are crucial.