Risk Factors of Work-Related Head and Neck Injuries: A National Survey

Occupational accidents made injuries in different parts of the body; two important parts of them are head and neck. We aimed to identify the risk factors of work-related head and neck injuries with using of a nationwide occupational accident data.

This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on the nationwide data that was gathered in 2013-2018. The target population was industrialized and non-industrialized adults, aged 18 yr or older. Dependent variable was the head and neck injuries. The independent variables were included, age, sex, education level, work experience, job, shift work, injury cause, referred center, season, accident day, accident time, and action after accident. Univariate logistic regression analyses and subsequently, a multivariate logistic regression model was used for analysis.

Out of the 17066 injured workers, 4072 (23.86%) subjects had head and neck injuries. The results of multivariate logistic regressions model showed, age ranges 30-39 (OR = 1.218; 95% CI: 1.036,1.433; P= 0.017), 40-49 (OR = 1.313; 95% CI: 1.044,1.652; P= 0.020), and >= 60 (OR=1.620; 95%CI: 1.028,2.553; P=0.038) and having male sex (OR = 1.657; 95% CI: 1.075,2.555; P= 0.022) were final work-related risk factors of head and neck injuries in Iran. Also winter season (OR = 1.212; 95% CI: 1.00,1.469; P= 0.050) could increase the head and neck injuries odds.

Older workers in Iran are more vulnerable against the occupational head and neck injuries. Moreover, having male sex was other risk factor of the head and neck injuries.