The Health Behaviors of the Older US Worker

Details

• Personal Author:
  Arheart KL ; Bridges KC ; Christ SL ; Fleming, Lora E. ; LeBlanc WG ; Lee DJ ; Martinez AJ ; McCollister KE ; Pitman T
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: As the US workforce ages, lifestyle factors will increasingly affect their health, yet little information is available on their prevalence in older working populations. METHODS: Using the nationally representative 1997-2003 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), reported current smoking, risky drinking and leisure-time physical activity behaviors of older workers (> or = 65 years) were compared with older non-workers. These behaviors were evaluated by age, gender, race, ethnicity, and occupation, as well as prototype "healthy" and "risky" persons. RESULTS: The study population of 4,946 older US workers and 38,313 older non-workers represented an estimated 3.9 million older workers and 28.9 million older non-workers annually. Relative to older non-workers, older workers reported more current smoking and risky drinking, but higher levels of leisure-time physical activity with variations by subpopulations. CONCLUSIONS: Less than 4% of the older US worker population reported overall healthy behaviors. Certain occupations and other subpopulations can be targeted for age-appropriate behavioral interventions. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Alcoholic Beverages Demography Epidemiology Occupational Health Safety Sex Characteristics Smokers Workplace
• Keywords:
  Age-factors Alcoholic-beverages Demographic-characteristics Physical-exercise Physical-fitness Sex-factors Smoking Statistical-analysis Worker-health Workplace-studies
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  427-437
• Volume:
  50
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032424
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2007 Jun; 50(6):427-437
• Contact Point Address:
  Lora E. Fleming, 1801 NW 9th Ave Suite 200, Miami, FL 33136
• Email:
  lfleming@med.miami.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Performing Organization:
  University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20020901
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20120831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1982b31a3d0854ff0970b72a0e3b65c385f0efd38cfe93b0aa8bf4816a1cf9a41ca95163fe7267738c30decef34f96a04dbe12b589f0e93329271fcb59c52642
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186405/cdc_186405_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 131.34 KB ]