Systematic review and meta-analysis of veterinary-related occupational exposures to hazards

Objective: Understanding hazards within the veterinary profession is critical for developing strategies to ensure health and safety in the work environment. This study was conducted to systematically review and synthesize data on reported risks within veterinary workplaces. Methods: A systematic review of published data reporting occupational hazards and associated risk factors were searched within three database platforms namely PubMed, Ebscohost, and Google scholar. To determine the proportion estimates of hazards and pooled odds ratio, two random-effects meta-analysis were performed. Results: Data showed veterinarians and students were at high risk of exposure to diverse physical, chemical, and biological hazards. For the biological, chemical and physical hazards, the pooled proportion estimates were 17% (95% CI: 15.0-19.0, p < 0.001), 7.0% (95% CI: 6.0-9.0%, p < 0.001) and 65.0% (95% CI: 39.0-91.0%, p < 0.001) respectively. A pooled odds ratio indicated the odds of physical (OR=1.012, 95% CI: 1.008-1.017, p < 0.001) and biological exposures (OR=2.07, 95% CI: 1.70-2.52, p <0.001) increased more when working with or in contact with animals than non-contact. Conclusions: This review has provided a better understanding of the occupational health and safety status of veterinarians and gaps within the developing countries. Veterinarians including students are at considerable risk of occupational-related hazards. The need to improve government and organisation policies and measures on occupational health and safety is therefore crucial, most importantly in Africa.