Socioeconomic Position and History of Workplace Eye Injury: Examples from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Presenter: Xinzhi Zhang, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Abstract

Socioeconomic Position and History of Workplace Eye Injury: Examples from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Xinzhi Zhang, MD, PhD, Gloria L.A. Beckles, MD, MSc, Xiangming Fang PhD, John Crews, PhD, Jinan B Saaddine, MD MPH

Background: Understanding the relationship between socioeconomic position and workplace eye injury is essential to inform and support health policymaking.

Objectives: To examine whether socioeconomic position, as measured by education attainment and annual household income, is associated with workplace eye injury history

Methods: We used data from five states (Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas; n=13,931) that used the 2005 CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) vision module. The BRFSS is an ongoing, state-based telephone health survey conducted by random-digit dialing of non-institutionalized US adults. Respondents were defined as having workplace eye injury if they answered yes to the question, “Have you ever had a workplace eye injury that occurred at your workplace while you were doing your work?” Logistic regression and propensity score matching were both used to examine the relationship between socioeconomic positions and workplace eye injury history.

Results: After adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, insurance for eye care, health status (general and mental health, visual impairment, eye disease), and risk-taking behaviors (binge drinking and smoking), low education attainment [less than high school vs. more than high school; odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence intervals (CI)=1.70 (1.19-2.43)] and low income [<$15,000 vs. ≥ $50,000, ORs (95% CI)=1.79 (1.16-2.78)] were significantly associated with having had a workplace eye injury among adults aged 50 and older (p<0.05). The results from the propensity score matching also confirmed such relationships (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Persons of low socioeconomic position are significantly more likely than their more advantaged counterparts to have a history of workplace eye injury. More research is needed to improve translation and implantation of these findings into public health practice.