Longest-held Occupation Research Articles

Factors Related to Income Change among Elderly

Based on a longitudinal survey (1987-1990) of a national representative sample aged 60 and over, we examined the income change rate of elderly and the factors related to their movement into and out of poverty. A couple is defined as poor if their annual income is less than 1.2 million yen. Independent variables such as socioeconomic status and life event indicators are taken into account.The findings are as follows : 1. The poverty rate was 34.7% in 1987, and 31.7% in 1990. Comparing baseline and follow-up interviews, 8.8% of the sample experienced a fall into poverty, while 11.8% moved out of it.2. Socioeconomic status showed differences in the likelihood of a subject's moving into or out of poverty. Interviewees who had higher educational attainment were less likely to become poor, and the longest-held occupation had significant effects on the likelihood of a subject's moving into or out of poverty.3. During the period of the survey, life events were found to have significant effects on the likelihood of moving into or out of poverty. Women who became widowed and subjects who became unemployed were more likely to move into poverty, while those who continued to be employed were more likely to move out of poverty.4. Sex, age and functional capacity had significant effects on the likelihood of moving out of poverty even after the effects of socioeconomic status and life events were controlled. Men were more likely to move out of poverty than women were, while subjects who were older and subjects who had a lower functional capacity at the baseline were less likely to do so.

Longest held occupation in a lifetime and risk of disability in activities of daily living

OBJECTIVESTo examine the association between the longest held occupation in a lifetime and risk of disability in activities of daily living (ADL) among elderly people (65 years and older) in...

Accuracy of industry and occupation on death certificates of electric utility workers: implications for epidemiologic studies of magnetic fields and cancer.

A substantial epidemiologic literature has relied on occupation and industry information from death certificates to make inferences about the association of electric and magnetic field exposure with cancer, but the validity of the occupational data on death certificates is questionable. We compared occupation and industry information from death certificates to company work histories for 793 electric utility workers who died from brain cancer (n=143), leukemia (n=156), lung cancer (n=246, randomly sampled), and non-cancer causes (n=248, randomly sampled). Nearly 75% of death certificates correctly indicated utility industry employment and of those, 48% matched the longest held occupation derived from company work histories. Hence, only 36% matched on both industry and occupation. We computed odds ratios relating occupations involving magnetic field exposure to brain cancer and leukemia both for the occupation listed on the death certificate and for the longest-held occupation based on company records in order to examine the impact of exposure misclassification based on reliance on the death certificate information. For brain cancer, the odds ratio was 1.2 based on death certificates and 1.7 based on company work history, suggesting some attenuation due to misclassification. For leukemia, death certificate information yielded an odds ratio of 0.9, whereas company work histories yielded an odds ratio of 1.3. Although work histories are limited to the period of employment in a specific company, these data suggest that there is substantial misclassification in use of death certificate information on industry and occupation of utility workers, as found in other industries. The limited quality of occupation and industry information on death certificates argues against relying on such information to evaluate modest associations with mortality.

Diferències socials en el càncer de bufeta urinària a Catalunya

To assess the presence of socio-economic differences in bladder cancer in a heavily industrialised area of Catalonia, Spain and to evaluate risk factors associated with the presence of these differences. 218 cases and 344 population controls resident in the area of Vallès Occidental, Barcelona, were identified prospectively and interviewed during 1993-1995. Socio-economic level was evaluated through attained education and social class on the basis of the last and longest held occupation. Logistic regression was used to derive adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. There was no association between education and bladder cancer risk. Social class, evaluated on the basis of longest held job, was weakly related with bladder cancer, with the highest risk occurring in the highest social classes. This pattern was more pronounced when the analysis was done using the last occupation. Occupational exposures modified minimally these results. Among controls, the overall prevalence of smoking did not differ between social class but the prevalence of heavy-smokers (> 48.76 packs-year) was highest among subjects in social class V (35.5%) and lowest in social class I (10%). Adjusting for smoking enlarged social class differences. Similarly to the pattern in other European countries, no pronounced differences by social class were observed for bladder cancer in this area of Catalonia. The evaluation of social class patterns was crucially affected by the type of socioeconomic information examined. Measures of life-time experience should be preferred rather than socio-economic level at the time of the disease. Smoking seems to be one of the main mediators for the occurrence of bladder cancer differentials but other, yet unidentified risk factors, must be associated with bladder cancer risk, especially among the highest social classes.

Health characteristics by longest held occupation and industry of employment: United States, 1980.

Occupational and industrial hazards are unevenly distributed in the workplace. National estimates for selected health indices of persons aged 17 years and over in the civilian noninstitutionalized population are presented for categories of longest held occupation and industry of employment. These estimates were based on data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in the 1980 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Occupational Supplement, the first survey to collect data on longest held, in addition to current, occupation and industry of employment. Data on length of longest held job, limitation of activity, disability days, incidence of acute conditions, persons injured, hospitalizations, and utilization of medical and dental services are presented.

Gender differences in health indicators by longest-held occupation and industry of longest employment.

As more women enter the work force, they may increasingly come into contact with occupational and industrial hazards. The distribution of longest-held occupation and industry of longest employment and selected health indicators are presented for US men and women. These data are based on the National Center for Health Statistics' 1980 National Health Interview Survey, the first survey to collect data on longest-held, in addition to current, occupation and industry of employment. Data on limitation of activity, disability days, and physician and dentist visits are presented by categories of longest-held occupation and industry of longest employment. Overall, more men than women (except for younger female farm laborers and farm foremen) reported a limitation of activity due to chronic conditions; however, more women reported days of restricted activity. Female private household workers reported over a month of restricted activity. This study suggests the need to further investigate more direct health measures of female farm and agriculture workers and female private household workers.

Disability in occupations in a national sample.

We sought to develop lists of jobs whose members reported high and low levels of functional disability. Samples of women (n = 6096) and men (n = 3653) were drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I Epidemiological Follow-up. Disability was measured with a modified Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire. We analyzed women and men separately, and we calculated average disability indices within longest-held occupations while adjusting for age, age-squared, married spouse present, and education. We minimized attrition bias with an econometric technique. From highest to lowest association with disability, the female broad occupations ranking was as follows: farming, no occupation, laborers, service, technicians, operatives, crafts workers, transportation operators, professionals, sales workers, administrative support, and managers. The male broad occupations ranking was as follows: no occupation, farming, operatives, crafts workers, service, technicians, manager, administrative support, sales, and professionals. The highest levels of disability for women and men occurred among nonconstruction laborers, farm workers, twisting machine operators, servants, machinery maintenance workers, mining machine operators, and bus drivers. Our results suggest that, in understanding levels of functional disability, occupational safety and health play a larger role than is generally assumed.