Hand injuries in foreign labour workers in an Irish university hospital

A systematic review of working conditions and occupational health among immigrants in Europe and Canada

Background

A systematic attempt to summarize the literature that examines working conditions and occupational health among immigrant in Europe and Canada.

Methods

We established inclusion criteria, searched systematically for articles included in the Medline, Embase and Social Sciences Citation Index databases in the period 2000–2016 and checked the reference lists of all included papers.

Results

Eighty-two studies were included in this review; 90% were cross-sectional and 80% were based on self-report. Work injuries were consistently found to be more prevalent among immigrants in studies from different countries and in studies with different designs. The prevalence of perceived discrimination or bullying was found to be consistently higher among immigrant workers than among natives. In general, however, we found that the evidence that immigrant workers are more likely to be exposed to physical or chemical hazards and poor psychosocial working conditions is very limited. A few Scandinavian studies support the idea that occupational factors may partly contribute to the higher risk of sick leave or disability pension observed among immigrants. However, the evidence for working conditions as a potential mediator of the associations between immigrant status and poor general health and mental distress was very limited.

Conclusion

Some indicators suggest that immigrant workers in Europe and Canada experience poorer working conditions and occupational health than do native workers. However, the ability to draw conclusions is limited by the large gaps in the available data, heterogeneity of immigrant working populations, and the lack of prospectively designed cohort studies.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-5703-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Epidemiology of pelvic and acetabular trauma in a Dublin tertiary hospital: a 10-year experience

BACKGROUND

Pelvic fractures are usually the result of high-energy trauma and may have associated soft tissue and organ damage resulting in significant morbidity and mortality in these patients. Currently, there is little data from Ireland regarding these injuries.

OBJECTIVE

To study the epidemiology of pelvic fractures presenting to a tertiary referral centre in Dublin.

METHODS

Patients referred with a pelvic fracture were identified using the Hospital Inpatient Enquiry System (HIPE) from 1998 to 2008. The patient's medical notes were reviewed for demographic data, type and mechanism of fracture and associated injuries.

RESULTS

A total of 509 patients were identified over the 10-year period. 466 patients were included in the study. There was a significant male preponderance 76% (n = 354) as compared to females 24% (n = 112). Mean age was 36.5 years (range 16-83). Road traffic accidents (RTA) were the cause in 74% (n = 346) of the cases.

CONCLUSION

From our study, the typical patient profile is one of a male in his 30's involved in an RTA requiring acetabular surgery. This is in accordance with previously published international data and highlights the need for specialised units, training in this subspecialty and allocation of resources.