Research shows peak times for brain injuries

November 27th, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- Construction in Ontario is rampant -- but research into brain injuries in the construction industry isn't.

U of T currently has 55 capital projects in construction across all three campuses. That means dozens of construction workers are on campus.

Scholars exercising their brains aren't usually thinking about the brains of the workers putting those planks in place, but one U of T researcher is.

Over the last 15 years, Angela Colantonio, a professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, has studied the effects of aging and injury on the human brain.

"My larger body of research has multiple components," she said. "One of those components is looking at acquired brain injury in the population from an epidemiological perspective, where we have done work particularly focusing on vulnerable populations. Now we are looking at high-risk workers."

A senior scientist at Toronto Rehab, Colantonio holds the Saunderson Family Chair in Acquired Brain Injury Research and is lead author of a new study on brain injury among construction workers, published in September in the journal Brain Injury. The new study used data from the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

Few academic studies have looked at this issue. Yet the construction industry -- with approximately 400,000 workers in Ontario alone -- is known to have a high rate of serious brain injury.

Colantonio's team wasn't surprised to find the highest number of brain injuries in the busy construction month of August, while December had the lowest. But they didn't expect to find a second peak in October. This may reflect a surge in work to complete projects prior to the winter months. Contributing factors to injuries could be shorter days and less light and more adverse weather conditions, she speculated.

Colantonio emphasized that weather conditions were one of the important reasons to have a Canadian study.

"If we had just looked at all workers across the U.S. we might not have picked up these findings," she said.

The study also raised questions about the time of day when these injuries occur. It identified two peaks during the day: the hour before and the hours after lunch.

"Most of us know that lethargic feeling that hits just before or after lunch at work and it's hard to focus, but we have a job to finish," said Colantonio.

Among other findings, younger workers were much more likely to experience brain injuries in the morning, while older workers were more likely to suffer such injuries in late afternoon.

Colantonio and her colleagues are now working with the coroner's office to look at the fatal cases in much greater detail.

Provided by University of Toronto