Injury-related deaths jump among US workers
Deaths from occupational-related injuries rose 5.7% last year, new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show.
The bureau’s Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, released Dec. 19, found that 5,486 people in the U.S. died from work-related injuries in 2022. The nation’s fatal work injury rate that year was 3.7 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, up from 3.6 per 100,000 in 2021.
Deaths were highest among transportation and material moving workers, who had a rate of 14.6 fatalities per 100,000 FTE workers, followed by workers in construction and extraction, who experienced 13 deaths per 100,000. About 40% of the deaths in the latter group were caused by falls, trips and slips, underscoring the need for better workplace safety measures, the bureau said.
Many of the trends in worker deaths mirrored health challenges experienced across the nation during 2022, which was the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the U.S. struggled with increases in drug overdoses, so did its workforce, which experienced more than 500 unintentional overdoses on the job last year.
Suicides, which have jumped nationwide in recent years and reached a new high in 2022, increased by 13.1% in the workplace.
Climate change also impacted worker health in 2022, with deaths from extreme heat climbing 18.6% from the previous year. Despite rising temperatures and calls for action from health and safety advocates, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has yet to finalize a heat safety standard to protect workers.
While deaths rose for most racial and ethnic groups, the largest increases were among Black workers, whose fatality rate increased by 12.4%, and Hispanic workers, whose rate grew by 10.4%.
Men made up 92% of all fatal occupational injuries in 2022, reflecting higher numbers of deaths in male-dominated fields, such as truck driving, farming, fishing and construction.
Newborns of color often miss out on clinical trials
Newborn babies of color are underrepresented in clinical trials, which has the potential to worsen health disparities, new research concludes.
Researchers examined five years of clinical studies involving newborns, finding that race and ethnicity of participants did not accurately reflect that of babies in U.S. neonatal intensive care units, where participants are often recruited for trials.
Black newborns, who made up 26% of clinical trial participants, accounted for 30% of NICU babies. White newborns, who made up 57% of trial participants, accounted for 44% of NICU babies, according to the new study published Dec. 21 in JAMA Network Open.
Only 3% of newborns in the 120 clinical trials were classified as Hispanic, fewer than 1% were Asian and none were Indigenous. While some of the shortfall may be explained by deficiencies in record-keeping, underrepresentation of babies of color in clinical trials is “particularly problematic” because the populations often have worse health outcomes, the study noted. For example, Black infants are more than twice as likely than white infants to die in the first year of life, previous research has found.
The researchers suggested that language barriers or assumptions by staff about the interest of caregivers or availability for follow-up can drive some of the disparities. A 2021 study in the same journal found that parents who enrolled their newborns in clinical trials tended to have higher incomes, lower rates of Medicaid coverage and higher trust in medical researchers than those who did not enroll.
Involving newborns in clinical trials can help improve science-based standards for drug dosages, vaccines and other medical care for the population. ClinicalTrials.gov, a registry run through the National Institutes of Health, currently lists hundreds of trials enrolling or already involving newborns in the U.S., addressing topics such as epilepsy, nutrition, sepsis, allergies and pain relief.
Drought forcing people in Africa toward flood plains
Climate change is worsening droughts in Africa and driving people toward rivers. But that resettlement can significantly worsen residents’ risks of being harmed by flooding, new research says.
The 50-country study, published in Earth’s Future, found that in 65% of African nations that experienced droughts from 1992 to 2013, the number of residents relocating toward rivers increased. Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa in the continent’s central eastern region experienced the most residents moving during droughts.
While potentially providing better access to water for both agriculture and human survival, living in flood plains presents other dangers. For example, more than half a million people in Somalia who moved closer to rivers over three years following droughts were later displaced by heavy rains and flash flooding, the researchers said.
Droughts have become more intense, frequent and widespread in most African countries over the past half century, with multi-year droughts in some regions. The United Nations recently estimated that the world is on track for an up to 3-degree Celsius rise in warming this century, which would increase droughts as much as 20-fold in parts of Africa.
The researchers also observed that some people moved into cities during droughts, potentially to find non-agriculture work, which could increase overcrowding.
Structural racism linked to higher rates of chronic disease
People who live in neighborhoods with elevated levels of structural racism have higher rates of three chronic diseases that endanger heart health, according to a new study.
Researchers looked at indicators of structural racism — such as high eviction rates, more reports of violent crime, less tree cover and greater unemployment — in 150 neighborhoods in Durham County, North Carolina. More than half the county’s residents are people of color, with Black residents making up 35% of the population and Hispanic people accounting for about 14%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The researchers found that neighborhoods with a higher number of structural racism indicators had more cases of chronic kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension per capita.
The highest prevalence of the three diseases tended to be in neighborhoods with the lowest proportions of white residents. Neighborhoods with higher incomes and rates of college education were also less likely to experience high rates of the diseases, said the study, which was published Dec. 21 in JAMA Network Open.
Among all Americans, Black people tend to have higher rates of chronic kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension, which contribute to their risks for heart disease. Black Americans also tend to develop heart disease symptoms at a younger age and are more than twice as likely as white people to die from cardiovascular disease.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public-health journalist.
