Risk Factors for Injury among Veterinarians

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Abstract
Work-related injuries among veterinarians are a major problem, but little is known of the specific risk factors involved. The purpose of this nested case-control study, conducted from a comprehensive population-based study of practicing Minnesota veterinarians, was to identify risk factors for job-related injuries. We questioned cases (N = 193) on exposures occurring in the month before their injury, and we questioned controls (N = 495) on exposures occurring in a randomly selected month. We used logistic regression to model the dependence of veterinary work-related injury on each exposure of interest and associated confounders. We observed increased rates for prior injuries (RR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.1–2.6), participation in sports (RR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.05–2.6), no sharps boxes present (RR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.01–3.2), current smoking (RR = 4.1, 95% CI = 1.8–9.1), and 6 or fewer hours of sleep (RR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.0–3.3). We identified a dose response for lifting patients, as follows: lifting 41–75 lb (RR = 3.1, 95% CI = 1.6–5.9), lifting 76–100 lb (RR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1.6–5.9), and lifting more than 100 lb (RR = 6.1, 95% CI = 2.5–15.0). Decreased rates were observed for participation in aerobic activities (RR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.4–0.99), perception of lower risk (RR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.2–0.9), and experience (RR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.4–0.9).

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