A population-based study on return to work after traumatic injuries

Abstract

Background: Trauma is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Most of the people who have trauma are young and in the activity period of living. Trauma is the main cause of disability in the young population. Trauma also affects return to work (RTW). RTW is a specific criterion for trauma evaluation. This study aims to investigate the RTW period after traumatic injuries. Methods: In this cross-sectional study used household survey data collected during a 2018–2019 study on over 15 years in Kashan. We conducted univariate and multivariate analyses to evaluate associations of RTW during 1 year after trauma. Relation between RTW and risk factors was investigated at three levels: preinjury (demographic) factors, injury-related factors, and postinjury factors. Results: In this study, the incidence of trauma in 1000 estimated 70.61 (62.60–78.70) in 1 year. Nearly 77.73% were male. The most mechanism of trauma (51%) was related to traffic accidents. Nearly 9.1% of people with trauma had returned to their daily activities 1–6 days and 7.3% RTW after 7–14 days and 11.2% RTW after 60 days. Conclusion: Findings of this study indicated that time of RTW was related to three levels of factor: preinjury factors, injury-related factors, and postinjury factors. These factors need to be evaluated in larger-scale, long-term studies with more homogeneous samples in terms of the type and the severity of traumas.

Keywords

• disability
• mental health
• posttrauma stress
• quality of life
• return to work
• socioeconomic status
• trauma