Unspecified pain and other soft tissue disorders following electrical injuries: a register-based matched cohort study

Abstract

Objective This study investigates whether individuals who have sustained an electrical injury (EI) are diagnosed with unspecified pain or pain related to the musculoskeletal system in the years following the injury. Methods Individuals listed in Danish registers as having sustained EIs were matched for sex, age, and year of injury in a cohort study with individuals having experienced dislocations/sprains (match 1), eye injuries (match 2), and a sample of individuals with the same occupation without a history of electrical injuries (match 3). Outcomes were unspecified pain and unspecified soft tissue disorders. Conditional logistic regression and conditional Cox regression were applied. Results We identified 14,112 individuals who sustained EIs. A higher risk of both outcomes was observed for all three matches, and was highest at the 6- and 12-month follow-ups. The risk of both outcomes was considerably higher for match 3. Conclusions This study confirms that exposure to EIs increases the risk of being diagnosed with unspecified pain or unspecified soft tissue disorders both at short and long terms. Our results also showed that the risk of unspecified pain as sequelae is related to the severity of the injury.

Electricians’ Health After Electrical Shocks

“…However, the typical pattern of symptoms occurring immediately after an electrical shock and then receding soon after does not negate the persistence of some symptoms among a small number of victims of electrical injuries. in a recent register-based study that analyzed electrical injuries registered with The Danish National Patient registry (hospital patients) and with The Danish Working Environment Authority (work injuries) over an 18-year period, we found several mental and physical diagnoses related to both mental and physical health 24,48 and to sickleave and low work participation in the subsequent years 32 . In these studies we used a matched cohort design that compared electrical injuries to other injuries, and the participants to other persons with the same occupation.…”