Health Inequity among Waged Workers by Employment Status / 예방의학회지

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the differences in employment status and self assessed health in Korea. METHODS: We analyzed 4 year follow-up data generated by the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS), which was conducted on 1,207 men and 582 women who had undergone a change in employment status. The study subjects were placed into 1 of the following 4 groups based on their employment history; Non-precarious workers, Precarious to non-precarious workers, Non-precarious to precarious workers and Precarious workers. Logistic regression was then used to examine the relationship between the changes in employment status and self assessed health. RESULTS: When males were considered, self assessed health was better among the precarious to non-precarious workers (OR 1.58, 95% CI=1.57-1.60) and the precarious workers (OR 1.29, 95% CI=1.28-1.30) than in the non-precarious workers, after adjusting for age, socioeconomic status (education level, occupational class, marital status, average equivalent household income and average number of hours worked per week), health behavior (smoking, drinking and exercise) and medical service access (regular medical examination, have chronic disease or hospitalized within 1 year). When female workers were considered, the precarious to non-precarious workers (OR 1.89, 95% CI=1.86-1.92), non-precarious to precarious workers(OR 1.24, 95% CI=1.23-1.26) and precarious workers (OR 1.27, 95% CI=1.25-1.28) all reported poorer health than the non-precarious workers after adjusting for the aforementioned factors. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that changes in employment status were associated with differences in self assessed health among men and women. Specifically, the results of this study showed that a corresponding positive outcome based on self assessed health was greater for employees that changed from precarious to non-precarious jobs and for male employees with precarious jobs, whereas female employees with non-precarious jobs had higher self assessed health. However, additional longitudinal studies on the health effects of employment status should be conducted.

Relationship Between Self-reported Symptoms of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Health Related Quality of Life / 대한산업의학회지

OBJECTIVES: To explore the relationship between symptoms of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) and health-related, quality of life (QoL). METHODS: WMSDs symptoms were measured by a self-assessed questionnaire on musculoskeletal disorders symptoms and health-related QoL was measured by SF-36. Analysis of variance and logistic regression were used to analyze the relationship between WMSDs and health-related QoL. RESULTS: The prevalence of WMSDs was 64.6% in the upper limbs, 44.0% in the low back, and 39.6% in the lower limbs. Subjects with musculoskeletal symptoms had significantly lower scores on all SF-36 dimensions than those without symptoms among all body parts. Compared with the control, the case's odds ratio was higher in all SF-36 dimensions, especially for physical functioning. CONCLUSIONS: WMSDs have a negative effect on health-related QoL. The essential prevention of WMSDs requires intervention for health promotion in manufacturing workers.