David James Lee, PhD¹, Lora E. Fleming, MD PhD MPH MSc¹, William LeBlanc, Phd¹, Orlando Gomez-Marin, PhD, MSc², Alberto Juan Caban, BSc¹, and Terry Pitman, BA¹. (1) Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Miami School of Medicine, 1801 NW 9th Avenue, Highland Professional Building, Suite 200, Miami, FL 33136, 305-243-6980, dlee@med.miami.edu, (2) Epidemiology & Public Health and Pediatrics, University of Miami School of Medicine, Highland Professional Building, 1801 NW 9th Ave, Miami, FL 33136

Objectives: A ranking of US occupations by disability of their workers has never been undertaken.

Methods: The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a multipurpose household survey of the US civilian non-institutionalized population conducted yearly since 1957. From 1986-1994, over 450,000 US workers, age > 18 years, participated in the NHIS. A series of multivariate logistic regression analyses controlling for survey design, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and educational status compared workers in each occupational group to the remaining employed workforce on the following dichotomous dependent variables: < 4 vs. > 4 days of restricted activity in the previous two weeks; 0 vs. > 1 days of bed rest in the previous two weeks; 0 vs. > 1 days of missed work in the previous 2 weeks due to illness or injury; < 4 vs. > 4 doctor visits in the previous 12 months; 0 vs. > 1 days spent in a hospital in the previous 12 months; 0 vs. > 1 reported health conditions; and excellent, very good or good vs. fair or poor reported health status. A disability summary score was created by taking a weighted sum of the odds ratios for these seven measures.

Results: The ten occupational groups reporting the greatest disability were: social workers, inspectors, postal clerks, psychologists, grinding machine operators, nursing aides, mechanics/repairers, inspectors, correctional officers, and licensed practical nurses.

Conclusions: These findings aid in the identification of worker groups that require increased attention for disability research and prevention by the occupational health community.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the design of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the NHIS for occupational health research
• List the ten occupations with the highest rates of reported disability
• Discuss the need for additional research in worker groups identified as having the highest rates of reported disability

Keywords: Occupational Surveillance, Occupational Health

Related Web page: www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/niehs/niosh/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.