Increased Mortality Associated With Disability Among Workers' Compensation Claimants With Upper Extremity Neuropathy

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare mortality after disabling and nondisabling occupational injuries.

Methods: Vital status was ascertained through 2020 for 2077 individuals with a workers' compensation claim for upper extremity neuropathy in West Virginia in 1998 or 1999. Standardized mortality ratios compared mortality to the West Virginia general population. Hazard ratios (HRs) obtained from Cox regression models compared mortality among those with and without lost work time or permanent disability.

Results: Overall, the standardized mortality ratio for accidental poisoning deaths was elevated (1.75, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-2.68). All-cause mortality HRs and cancer HRs were elevated for lost work time (HR = 1.09, 95% CI: 0.93-1.28; HR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.09-2.08, respectively) and permanent disability (HR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.04-1.44; HR = 1.78, 95% CI: 1.27-2.48, respectively).

Conclusions: Work-related disability was associated with broad elevations in mortality.