Health Indicators among Young Health Indicators among Young Adult WorkersAdult Workers

Alberto Caban-Martinez, MPH, CPHPresenting for the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Occupational Research Group

Health Indictors & Youth WorkersHealth Indictors & Youth Workers

• “Health risk” describes behaviors and health indicators with potentially negative effects on health (e.g. substance use, risky drinking, and eating disorders)

• Document major health indicators during a life stage – identifying and prevent deleterious health

conditions. • Youth who work may be at risk for negative health

risks.

• Few studies of large population-based US health studies of young adult workers.

• We examine the relationship between occupation type and major health indicators among a nationally representative sample of young adult workers.

ObjectiveObjective

• National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)– NHIS years 1997 to 2004– NHIS Cancer Supplement Year 2000 – Dietary

Recall– Employed respondents 18-24 years old– Grouped into 13 major occupational groups– Self-reported data on health behaviors and

conditions examined– Stratification by Gender, Race, and Ethnicity

MethodsMethods

• Health Indictors Examined:– Smoking– Risky drinking – Obesity (BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m2)– Leisure-Time Physical Activity (LTPA)– Fruit consumption– French Fry Consumption

Methods (Con’t)Methods (Con’t)

• For all employed workers:– Males highest drinking (10.2%), smoking (30.8%),

and lowest levels of meeting US dietary guidelines on fruit consumption (91.3%)

– Black Youth Workers had lowest LTPA (67.5%) and the greatest obesity levels (22.9%).

ResultsResults

• Occupation specific findings:– Transportation/material moving occupations reported

greater risky drinking (13.5%), while those in protective service occupations reported the least risky drinking (3.7%)

– Smoking rates were highest among precision production, craft, and repair workers (39.7%) but lowest among professional specialty workers (15.5%)

– Youth workers employed as machine operators, assemblers, inspectors reported higher levels of not meeting LTPA guidelines (68.7%) as compared to protective service occupation workers (37.3%)

Results (Cont)Results (Cont)

• Occupation specific findings:– Technicians and related support occupations met

the criteria on US dietary guidelines for fruit consumption (85.4%) more frequently than those employed in transportation and material moving occupations (95.6%)

– Hispanic Technicians and related occupations (85.4%) and Black Protective Youth Workers (91.2%) consume three or more servings of French fries per week!!

Results (Cont)Results (Cont)

• We found the prevalence of health indicators among youth worker groups to parallel that of the US leading contributors to death

• Male and female protective service occupation youth workers and Hispanic technicians and related support occupations reported the highest rates of obesity and French fry consumption

ConclusionsConclusions

• We found the prevalence of health indicators among youth worker groups to parallel that of the US leading contributors to death

• Worksites provide ready access to 65% of the population aged >18 years

• Variability in the measures of health indicators by occupation type

• Policies to reduce negative health indicators may require different targeted workplace strategies

ConclusionsConclusions

CONTACT INFORMATION: UM’s Occupational Research Group

Alberto Caban-MartinezEmail: acaban@med.miami.edu

Phone: 305-243-7565