CDC: Type of job can impact CV health

Occupational group is associated with both individual CV health metrics and the CV health metrics summary score, according to a CDC report.

“Disparities in [CV] health status exist among U.S. occupational groups, making occupation an important consideration in employer-sponsored health promotion activities and allocation of prevention resources,” the report stated.

Taylor M. Shockey, MPH, from the division of surveillance, hazard evaluations and field studies at the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and colleagues examined the relationship between occupation and CV health metrics score using data from 66,609 participants in the 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System industry and occupation module.

According to the report, 3.5% of all workers met all seven CV health metrics (score = 7). Participants who were community and social service employees (14.6%), transportation and material moving employees (14.3%), and architecture and engineering employees (11.6%) had the highest rate of meeting two or fewer CV health metrics, according to the report.

Transportation and material moving employees in particular had the highest rate of “not ideal” scores for physical activity (54.1%), BP (31.9%) and BMI (75.5%). Sixty-one percent of truck drivers also reported having two or more of the following risk factors: high BP, obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, no physical activity, or 6 or fewer hours of sleep within a 24-hour period.

In addition, food preparation and serving employees had a higher rate of not ideal scores for smoking (22.8%) while computer and mathematical employees were more likely to have less than ideal cholesterol levels (39.9%). Less-than-ideal blood glucose scores were more common in personal care and service employees (10.3%) and poorer diet scores were more prevalent among farming, fishing and forestry employees (84.3%).

Age, sex, race and education were also factors in whether a participant met two or fewer CV health metrics. Almost 19% of participants aged 65 years or older and 17.7% of those without a high school diploma met two or fewer CV health metrics. Men (11.1%) and black participants (12.2%) also had a higher prevalence for meeting fewer CV health metrics.

“Although the [CV health metrics] are considered to be modifiable at the individual level, it is important to consider the impact that occupation factors might have on the metrics, including such factors as exposure to chemical and physical agents; workplace stress and adverse work organization related to workload and total hours; shift rotation; job assignment and design; and organizational culture,” Shockey and colleagues wrote.

Disclosure: Shockey and the other authors are employees of the CDC.