Today’s issue of WorkCompRecap features the release of a new study in ACOEM’s Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine that found that obese and overweight workers are more likely to incur high costs related to workers’ compensation claims for major injuries
Three years after injury, about 11% of claims for major injuries (eg, fractures or complete tendon tears) were still open. In this group, costs averaged about $470,000 for obese and $270,000 for overweight workers, compared to $180,000 for normal-weight workers. After controlling for other factors (like high cost surgeries) obese or overweight workers with major injuries were still about twice as likely to incur costs of $100,000 or higher. High BMIs were not found to associate with a delayed return to work (though a different pilot study did conclude that), nor were they found to affect costs for closed claims or for less-severe injuries.
Find out more (including a link to the free study!) by clicking here!