Occupational Disease Reporting Rates Across 29 Countries

127 studies from high-income and upper-middle-income countries assess the underreporting of occupational diseases. Incidence rates range from 1.71 to 1,387 cases per 100,000 employees annually, with the agricultural sector showing the highest case numbers. This meta-analysis, registered on PROSPERO, identifies job security concerns as a primary factor in underreporting.

Use Cases

• Analyze incidence rate variations across economic country classifications to identify reporting disparities.
• Compare annual case ranges between the agricultural, health, and construction sectors to prioritize intervention areas.
• Model the relationship between underreporting rates and contributing factors like employee job security concerns.
• Assess the quality of evidence from the 127 studies using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool criteria.

Strengths

• Synthesizes data from 127 identified studies, providing a broad evidence base.
• Reports specific incidence rate ranges from 1.71 to 1,387 per 100,000 employees.
• Explicitly identifies the main factor (employee job security concerns) contributing to underreporting.
• Follows PRISMA guidelines and uses independent researcher screening for methodological rigor.

Limitations

• All data originates from 29 high-income and upper-middle-income countries, lacking representation from low-income nations.
• Only two studies evaluated underreporting rates, providing limited direct measurement of this core metric.
• The dataset is very small at 9.5 KB, indicating limited raw data or summary-level information only.

Provenance

Source

Meta-analysis by Levina Chandra Khoe, sourced from figshare.

Collection Method

Systematic review following PRISMA guidelines, searching eight academic databases in September 2024.

Time Range

Studies included up to September 2024; publication year ranges of included studies are not specified.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026, based on a September 2024 literature search.

Geography

29 countries, all classified as high-income or upper-middle-income.