INJURY AND MUSCULO-SKELETAL DISORDERS AMONG AGING WORKER

过去几十年来，美国劳动力的人口构成发生了深刻的变化，50岁以上的工人比例不断上升，但这些工人的职业安全和健康问题一直没有得到足够的重视。衰老过程如何影响受伤和肌肉骨骼疾病的风险？当伤害确实发生在年龄较大的工人身上时，他们在严重程度和成本上与年轻工人中的类似伤害相比如何？是否有某些工作或工作特征对老年工人构成特殊威胁，或者其他相对良性的工作或工作特征？为了解决这些问题，调查人员收集了一组关于美国铝业庞大而多样化的美国劳动力的健康、伤害、行政和环境数据库。美国铝业是世界领先的铝制造商，PI担任该公司的医疗总监。通过对这些数据的多层次分析，并收集一些关于工作组织的额外数据，我们建议：目标1：确定老年工人在特定工作层面上的伤害和MSD的频率目标2：确定老年工人每种工作类型的伤害和MSD的严重程度目标3：确定与年轻工人相比，老年工人具有更高和更低相对风险的工作水平的特征目标4：在个人水平上确定人口统计因素和健康状况对老年工人伤害和MSD风险的潜在影响。目标5：确定工作组织和文化对地点层面上老年工人风险的潜在调整作用。这些分析的结果将被用于制定在该组织和一般工业劳动力中进行后续干预试验的战略。

The changes in the demographic composition of the US workforce over the past several decades has been profound, with an ever increasing proportion of workers over the age of 50, but there has been inadequate attention to the occupational safety and health issues of these workers. How does the aging process affect risk for injury and musculo-skeletal disease? When injuries do occur in older workers, how do they compare in severity and cost to similar injuries in younger workers? Are there certain jobs or job characteristics which represent particular threats to aging workers, or others which are comparatively benign? In order to address these questions, the investigators have assembled a group of health, injury, administrative and environmental databases on the large and diverse US workforce of ALCOA, the world's leading aluminum manufacturer, for which the PI serves as medical director. Through multi-level analyses of these data, and collection of some additional data regarding work organization, we propose to: Aim 1: Determine the frequency of injury and MSD at the job specific level in older workers Aim 2: Determine the severity of injuries and MSD's for each job type in older workers Aim 3: Determine the characteristics at the job- level with higher and lower relative risks for older workers compared to younger workers Aim 4: Determine the potential modifying effects of demographic factors and health status on injury and MSD risk among older workers at the individual level. Aim 5: Determine the potential modifying effect of work organization and culture on risks for older workers at the location level. The results of these analyses will be used to develop strategies for subsequent intervention trials in this organization and industrial workforces generally.