EPIDEMIOLOGY OF BACK INJURY IN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL NURSES FROM REVIEWOF WORKERS COMPENSATION RECORDS AND A CASE-CONTROL SURVEY

Reviewing Workers' Compensation records for back injury from a large u niversity hospital for a 2-year period, we found a yearly incidence of lost work time back injury among nurses of 2.0% per year, exceeded on ly by physical plant staff, who had a rate of 3.5%. Nurses' aides had an injury rate 3.3-fold higher than registered nurses and licensed pra ctical nurses and higher than any other occupational group. We compare d 100 cases of nurses with back injury in the previous 2 years with 19 7 noninjured control subjects using a mailed 40-item questionnaire. Mu ltivariate logistic modelling showed that prior nonback injury and per forming combined lifting activities were statistically significant ris k factors for back injury, and being overweight approached significanc e, after adjusting for the effects of age, gender, and each of the eva luated risk factors.