Abstract
Objective: To estimate the annual incidence, the mortality, and the direct and indirect costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses in the United States in 1992. Design: Aggregation and analysis of national and large regional data sets collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, the National Center for Health Statistics, the Health Care Financing Administration, and other governmental bureaus and private firms. Methods: To assess incidence of and mortality from occupational injuries and illnesses, we reviewed data from national surveys and applied an attributable risk proportion method. To assess costs, we used the human capital method that decomposes costs into direct categories such as medical and insurance administration expenses as well as indirect categories such as lost earnings, lost home production, and lost fringe benefits. Some cost estimates were drawn from the literature while others were generated within this study. Total costs were calculated by multiplying aver age costs by the number of injuries and illnesses in each diagnostic category. Results: Approximately 6500 job-related deaths from injury, 13.2 million nonfatal injuries, 60 300 deaths from disease, and 862 200 illnesses are estimated to occur annually in the civilian American workforce. The total direct ($65 billion) plus indirect ($106 billion) costs were estimated to be $171 billion. Injuries cost $145 billion and illnesses $26 billion. These estimates are likely to be low, because they ignore costs associated with pain and suffering as well as those of within-home care provided by family members, and because the numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses are likely to be undercounted. Conclusions: The costs of occupational injuries and illnesses are high, in sharp contrast to the limited public attention and societal resources devoted to their prevention and amelioration. Occupational injuries and illnesses are an insufficiently appreciated contributor to the total burden of health care costs in the United States.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1557-1568 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Archives of Internal Medicine |
| Volume | 157 |
| Issue number | 14 |
| State | Published - Jul 28 1997 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Internal Medicine
Cite this
Occupational injury and illness in the United States : Estimates of costs, morbidity, and mortality. / Leigh, J Paul; Markowitz, Steven B.; Fahs, Marianne; Shin, Chonggak; Landrigan, Philip J.
In: Archives of Internal Medicine, Vol. 157, No. 14, 28.07.1997, p. 1557-1568.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Occupational injury and illness in the United States
T2 - Estimates of costs, morbidity, and mortality
AU - Leigh, J Paul
AU - Markowitz, Steven B.
AU - Fahs, Marianne
AU - Shin, Chonggak
AU - Landrigan, Philip J.
PY - 1997/7/28
Y1 - 1997/7/28
N2 - Objective: To estimate the annual incidence, the mortality, and the direct and indirect costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses in the United States in 1992. Design: Aggregation and analysis of national and large regional data sets collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, the National Center for Health Statistics, the Health Care Financing Administration, and other governmental bureaus and private firms. Methods: To assess incidence of and mortality from occupational injuries and illnesses, we reviewed data from national surveys and applied an attributable risk proportion method. To assess costs, we used the human capital method that decomposes costs into direct categories such as medical and insurance administration expenses as well as indirect categories such as lost earnings, lost home production, and lost fringe benefits. Some cost estimates were drawn from the literature while others were generated within this study. Total costs were calculated by multiplying aver age costs by the number of injuries and illnesses in each diagnostic category. Results: Approximately 6500 job-related deaths from injury, 13.2 million nonfatal injuries, 60 300 deaths from disease, and 862 200 illnesses are estimated to occur annually in the civilian American workforce. The total direct ($65 billion) plus indirect ($106 billion) costs were estimated to be $171 billion. Injuries cost $145 billion and illnesses $26 billion. These estimates are likely to be low, because they ignore costs associated with pain and suffering as well as those of within-home care provided by family members, and because the numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses are likely to be undercounted. Conclusions: The costs of occupational injuries and illnesses are high, in sharp contrast to the limited public attention and societal resources devoted to their prevention and amelioration. Occupational injuries and illnesses are an insufficiently appreciated contributor to the total burden of health care costs in the United States.
AB - Objective: To estimate the annual incidence, the mortality, and the direct and indirect costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses in the United States in 1992. Design: Aggregation and analysis of national and large regional data sets collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, the National Center for Health Statistics, the Health Care Financing Administration, and other governmental bureaus and private firms. Methods: To assess incidence of and mortality from occupational injuries and illnesses, we reviewed data from national surveys and applied an attributable risk proportion method. To assess costs, we used the human capital method that decomposes costs into direct categories such as medical and insurance administration expenses as well as indirect categories such as lost earnings, lost home production, and lost fringe benefits. Some cost estimates were drawn from the literature while others were generated within this study. Total costs were calculated by multiplying aver age costs by the number of injuries and illnesses in each diagnostic category. Results: Approximately 6500 job-related deaths from injury, 13.2 million nonfatal injuries, 60 300 deaths from disease, and 862 200 illnesses are estimated to occur annually in the civilian American workforce. The total direct ($65 billion) plus indirect ($106 billion) costs were estimated to be $171 billion. Injuries cost $145 billion and illnesses $26 billion. These estimates are likely to be low, because they ignore costs associated with pain and suffering as well as those of within-home care provided by family members, and because the numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses are likely to be undercounted. Conclusions: The costs of occupational injuries and illnesses are high, in sharp contrast to the limited public attention and societal resources devoted to their prevention and amelioration. Occupational injuries and illnesses are an insufficiently appreciated contributor to the total burden of health care costs in the United States.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0030829276&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0030829276&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 9236557
AN - SCOPUS:0030829276
VL - 157
SP - 1557
EP - 1568
JO - JAMA Internal Medicine
JF - JAMA Internal Medicine
SN - 2168-6106
IS - 14
ER -