gms | German Medical Science

Objectives: Complex hand injuries occur with an incidence of 5.74 in 100.00 inhabitants per year. They causes costs in the United States by 38.000 $ per patient. Complex hand injuries lead to a reduction of hand function and posttraumatic psychological restriction. 5 % of these patients have to change their occupation and another 5 % retire.

Method: All complex hand injuries in the years 2010 - 2011, that had been treated in hospitals of the Austrian Workers' Compensation Board (AUVA) had been analysed in respect of the time of the accident, age, profession and object causing the injury.

A complex hand injury had been defined as an injury with a combination of at least two injuries: fracture/dislocation fracture, vascular injury, nerve injury, tendon injury, gunshot injury and amputation.

Results: At all 174.855 hand injuries had been treated in hospitals of the Austrian Workers' Compensation Board (AUVA). From these 814 (0,5%) had been complex hand injuries. 71 % of the accidents occurred during leisure time activities and 19 % had been accidents at work. 58 % of all work-related complex hand injuries had been between 26 and 50 years of age. 42 % of the patients had been in the construction and metalworking industries. Complex hand injuries most frequently happen from Monday to Thursday at 08:00 AM. The average calculated costs per complex hand injury had been 110.846 EUR per case. The calculated costs for the years 2010 - 2011 for complex hand injuries at during work had been 25.716.239 EUR (12.858.119 EUR per year). Average sick leave had been 3.2 months per case.

Conclusion: Complex hand injuries are very rare with 0,5 % of all hand injuries, but lead to a reduction of hand function and post traumatic psychological restriction. All hand injuries lead to 309 Million EUR costs per year for the Austrian Workers' Compensation Board (AUVA). So 0,5 % of all hand injuries leads to 4,2 % of all work related lifetime costs.