Glove Use and the Relative Risk of Acute Hand Injury: A Case-Crossover Study

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between glove use and acute traumatic occupational hand injury. We used a case-crossover, within-subject study design to control for differences between individuals such as occupation, injury history, age, gender, risk-taking behavior, ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene 2004-03, Vol.1 (3), p.182-190
Main Authors: Sorock, Gary S., Lombardi, David A., Peng, David K., Hauser, Russ, Eisen, Ellen A., Herrick, Robert F., Mittleman, Murray A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
Adult
Case-Control Studies
case-crossover
Cross-Over Studies
epidemiology
Female
Fractures, Bone - prevention & control
gloves
Gloves, Protective
hand
Hand Injuries - prevention & control
Humans
injury
Joint Dislocations - prevention & control
Lacerations - prevention & control
Male
Middle Aged
Occupational Health
Occupations
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Safety
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between glove use and acute traumatic occupational hand injury. We used a case-crossover, within-subject study design to control for differences between individuals such as occupation, injury history, age, gender, risk-taking behavior, manual dexterity, and muscle strength. A total of 1166 hand-injured workers were interviewed regarding the use of gloves at the time of the injury. The self-reported average duration of glove use in the previous work month was the measure of expected exposure to wearing gloves. Nineteen percent of subjects reported wearing gloves at the time of the injury. The expected exposure to glove use in the past work month was 27.9%. Glove use was associated with a lower risk of lacerations and punctures but not crush, fractures, avulsions, amputations, dislocations; the risk of the former two injury types was estimated to be 60-70% lower while wearing gloves. Glove use is only one component of a comprehensive hand injury prevention approach that might include the identification and elimination of sharp hazards, engineering controls, safety warnings, training in high-risk situation awareness, and proper selection and timing of glove use.
ISSN:1545-9624
1545-9632
DOI:10.1080/15459620490424500