Asymmetric impact of the 2012 Occupational Health and Safety Law on occupational injury and disease reporting in Türkiye: An interrupted time series analysis with emphasis on emerging female occupational disease patterns
- 1Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Aydın, Türkiye .
- 2Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, İzmir, Türkiye .
- 3Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University, Ağrı, Türkiye .
Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to characterize 18-year trends in occupational injury (OI) and recognized occupational disease (OD) in Türkiye’s compensation-based surveillance, with emphasis on emerging female disease patterns and on the impact of the 2012 Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Law.
Methods: We extracted nationwide annual data (2007–2024) from Social Security Institution Statistical Yearbooks. We computed rates per 100 000 insured, the OI/OD ratio, and sex-stratified International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) sub-code distributions. Segmented regression with two intervention points used Newey–West heteroscedasticity- and autocorrelation-consistent (HAC) standard errors.
Results: The proportion of recognized OD among women rose from 0.9% (2007) to 25.5% (2024) but with marked asymmetry: respiratory OD remained 96% male while nervous-system OD shifted from 24% female (2018) to 75% female (2024), driven by ICD-10 G62.2 toxic polyneuropathy (26 of 40 female cases in 2024). Female musculoskeletal OD rose from 20% to 34% with dominant upper-extremity repetitive-motion sub-codes; no female silicosis was recorded 2018–2024. Annual OI rose 9.1-fold (80 602 to 733 646); recognized OD declined (1208 to 888). The 2012 OHS Law produced an OI level change of +584 per 100 000 (P<0.001) but no statistically significant OD level change (P=0.32); the OI/OD ratio rose from 67 to 826.
Conclusions: The convergence of women’s share of OD toward 25% masks marked diagnostic asymmetries: women are visible primarily through feminized service-sector and chemical-exposure categories and scarcely in pneumoconioses. Reform priorities include diagnosis-stage notification, active screening of female workers in mixed-exposure environments, and gender-sensitive occupational history-taking.
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BibTeX
@article{deniz2026asymmetric,
title = {{Asymmetric impact of the 2012 Occupational Health and Safety Law on occupational injury and disease reporting in Türkiye: An interrupted time series analysis with emphasis on emerging female occupational disease patterns}},
author = {Funda Ekimci Deniz and Zehra Nur Töreyin and Metin Akgün},
journal = {Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment \& Health},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.5271/sjweh.4331},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.4331},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Asymmetric impact of the 2012 Occupational Health and Safety Law on occupational injury and disease reporting in Türkiye: An interrupted time series analysis with emphasis on emerging female occupational disease patterns
AU - Funda Ekimci Deniz
AU - Zehra Nur Töreyin
AU - Metin Akgün
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/01
JO - Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health
DO - 10.5271/sjweh.4331
UR - https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.4331
AB - Objectives: This study aimed to characterize 18-year trends in occupational injury (OI) and recognized occupational disease (OD) in Türkiye’s compensation-based surveillance, with emphasis on emerging female disease patterns and on the impact of the 2012 Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Law. Methods: We extracted nationwide annual data (2007–2024) from Social Security Institution Statistical Yearbooks. We computed rates per 100 000 insured, the OI/OD ratio, and sex-stratified International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) sub-code distributions. Segmented regression with two intervention points used Newey–West heteroscedasticity- and autocorrelation-consistent (HAC) standard errors. Results: The proportion of recognized OD among women rose from 0.9% (2007) to 25.5% (2024) but with marked asymmetry: respiratory OD remained 96% male while nervous-system OD shifted from 24% female (2018) to 75% female (2024), driven by ICD-10 G62.2 toxic polyneuropathy (26 of 40 female cases in 2024). Female musculoskeletal OD rose from 20% to 34% with dominant upper-extremity repetitive-motion sub-codes; no female silicosis was recorded 2018–2024. Annual OI rose 9.1-fold (80 602 to 733 646); recognized OD declined (1208 to 888). The 2012 OHS Law produced an OI level change of +584 per 100 000 (P<0.001) but no statistically significant OD level change (P=0.32); the OI/OD ratio rose from 67 to 826. Conclusions: The convergence of women’s share of OD toward 25% masks marked diagnostic asymmetries: women are visible primarily through feminized service-sector and chemical-exposure categories and scarcely in pneumoconioses. Reform priorities include diagnosis-stage notification, active screening of female workers in mixed-exposure environments, and gender-sensitive occupational history-taking.
SN - 0355-3140
SN - 1795-990X
ER -