@article {6613, title = {Occupational injuries among older workers with disabilities: a prospective cohort study of the Health and Retirement Survey, 1992 to 1994.}, journal = {Am J Public Health}, volume = {88}, year = {1998}, month = {1998 Nov}, pages = {1691-5}, publisher = {88}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: We tested the hypothesis that among older workers, disabilities in general, and hearing and visual impairments in particular, are risk factors for occupational injuries.

METHODS: Using the first 2 interviews of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of Americans aged 51 to 61 years, we conducted a prospective cohort study of 5600 employed nonfarmers.

RESULTS: Testing a logistic regression model developed in a previous cross-sectional study, we found that the following occupations and risk factors were associated with occupational injury as estimated by odds ratios: service personnel, odds ratio = 1.71 (95\% confidence interval = 1.13, 2.57); mechanics and repairers, 3.47 (1.98, 6.10); operators and assemblers, 2.33 (1.51, 3.61); laborers, 3.16 (1.67, 5.98); jobs requiring heavy lifting, 2.05 (1.55, 2.70); self-employment, 0.50 (0.34, 0.73); and self-reported disability, 1.58 (1.14, 2.19). Replacing the general disability variable with specific hearing and visual impairment variables, we found that poor hearing (1.35 [0.95, 1.93]) and poor sight (1.45 [0.94, 2.22]) both had elevated odds ratios.

CONCLUSIONS: Poor sight and poor hearing, as well as work disabilities in general, are associated with occupational injuries among older workers.

}, keywords = {Accidents, Occupational, Age Distribution, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Analysis of Variance, Cross-Sectional Studies, Disabled Persons, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Logistic Models, Male, Middle Aged, Odds Ratio, Prospective Studies, Retirement, Risk Factors, United States}, issn = {0090-0036}, doi = {10.2105/ajph.88.11.1691}, url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9807538/}, author = {Zwerling, Craig and Nancy L. Sprince and Charles S. Davis and Paul S. Whitten and Robert B Wallace and Steven G Heeringa} }