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Deaths Due to Bloodborne Infections and Their Sequelae Among Health‐Care Workers
Author(s) -
Luckhaupt Sara E.,
Calvert Geoffrey M.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.20610
Subject(s) - medicine , odds ratio , cirrhosis , hepatitis c , health care , hepatitis b , confidence interval , hepatitis b virus , hepatitis , environmental health , immunology , virus , economics , economic growth
Background The odds of dying from bloodborne infections among health‐care workers has not been well studied. Methods Using data from the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS) system, a matched case‐control design was employed to examine the relationship between health‐care employment and death from HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV; non‐A/non‐B viral hepatitis), liver cancer, and cirrhosis from 1984 to 2004. We examined the whole health‐care industry and specific health‐care occupations. Results From 1984 to 2004, NOMS captured 248,550 deaths from bloodborne pathogens and their sequelae. Employment in the health‐care industry was associated with increased risk of death from HIV (MOR = 2.27; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.11–2.44), HBV (MOR = 1.98; CI = 1.58–2.48), and cirrhosis (MOR = 1.09; CI = 1.04–1.15) among males, and death from HCV among both males (MOR = 1.46; CI = 1.22–1.75) and females (MOR = 1.22; CI = 1.05–1.40). Nursing was the occupation with the highest MORs among males for HIV and HBV, but female nurses were at decreased risk of dying from HIV (MOR = 0.69; CI = 0.57–0.83). Conclusions Employment in the health‐care industry was found to be associated with deaths from several bloodborne pathogens and their sequelae among males, but only with HCV among females from 1984 to 2004 in this exploratory study. Am. J. Ind. Med. 51:812‐824, 2008. Published 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.