Characterization of workers covered by a risk insurance company in Colombia who suffered amputation.

Background: Scarcity of information on the sociodemographic, occupational and clinical characteristics of workers who suffer upper limb amputation hinders planning and implementing actions to improve their living and working conditions.

Objective: To investigate the sociodemographic, occupational and clinical characteristics of workers covered by a risk insurance company in Colombia who suffered upper limb amputations and investigate their association with risk categories.

Methods: Exploratory, descriptive, retrospective and analytical study of data relative to workers covered by a risk insurance company in Colombia who suffered upper limb amputation in the period from 1982 and 2017. Following approval by School of Medicine, CES University, and a risk insurance company, we developed a checklist to collect data on the variables of interest. We performed descriptive and bivariate analysis with 95% of confidence and error of 5%.

Results: The largest proportion of workers who suffered amputation were men aged 36 to 55 years old and residing in the Andean region of Colombia. Amputations mainly followed incidents during the performance of tasks, particularly in jobs in the secondary economic sector and classified as with type 3 risk.

Conclusion: We were able to identify some characteristics associated with accidents, including age, risk class, economic sector, care received and disability duration. The results point to the need for appropriate interventions for the benefit of workers and risk insurance companies.