Korean J Epidemiol.  1997 Jun;19(1):29-41.

Incidence and Risk Factors of Needle Stick Injury and the Association with HBV Infection in Hospital Personnels

• Park JH
• Chun BY
• Yeh MH

Abstract

To investigate the incidence and risk factors of needle stick injury(NSI) and the association between NSI and hepatitis B infection in hospital personnel, a prospective cohort study was conducted at a university hospital in Pusan city from April 1, 1994 to September 30, 1994. Of five hundred and thirty hospital personnel, 38.7 percent reported one NSI or more. The annual person incidence rate of NSI was 81.3 per 100 person and annual spell incidence rate was 144.3 per 100 persons. The annual incidence rate in registered nurses(192.8 cases per 100) was the highest, followed by physicians(115.4 cases per 100), nurse aids(75.5 cases per 100) and laboratory technicals(51.8 cases per 100) (p<0.05). Risk factors significantly associated with needle stick injuries were being interns higher than residents(p<0.05) for physicians, the incidence rate decreased as length of employment increased (p<0.05) for registered nurses and working in operating room and central supply room higher than working in surgical department(p<0.05) for nurses aids. The most common device related to needle stick injuries was disposable needles(49.7%), the most frequent activity related to needle stick injuries was recapping needle(35.7%), and most of the needle stick injuries occurred in nurse station(40.9%) and patient room (34.1%). The vaccination rate for hepatitis B virus was 40.2 percent. Of the non-vacciness, 4.5 percent were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen and 69.2 percent were serologically positive for hepatitis B viral markers at the beginning of this study. Of 80 negative personnel for for all hepatitis B viral markers, 27 persons experienced needle stick injuries during study period. Three out of 27persons were positive for hepatitis B markers at the end of follow-up. However, all of 53 persons who had no experience of needle stick injuries were negative. Therefore, NSI was significantly associated with HBV infection and the annual incidence for hepatitis B virus infection was as 8.0 per 100 in hospital personnel. These findings suggest that hospital personnels are at a high risk group for needle stick injuries. Particulary interns, novice registered nures (length of employment less than 1 year), and nurse aids who are working at operating room and central supply room are the highest risk group. It is recommended that NSI prevention program for hospital personnel should be developed to minimize the risk of needle stick injuries in the hospital.

MeSH Terms

Biomarkers
Busan
Cohort Studies
Employment
Follow-Up Studies
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens
Hepatitis B virus
Humans
Incidence*
Needles*
Needlestick Injuries
Operating Rooms
Patients' Rooms
Personnel, Hospital*
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors*
Vaccination
Hepatitis B Surface Antigens