Health Conditions and Impairments: What Happens to Injured Workers Aging with Work-Related Permanent Impairments?

• In Event: 253 - Section on Disability and Society Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01.
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03.

Abstract

This paper compares the likelihood of reporting chronic conditions for injured workers with permanent impairments to similar respondents from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) without a work injury or work-related impairment. The Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injuries Health and Health Care Utilization Survey (RAACWI) was merged with the 2009/2010 CCHS using questions that were identical in both surveys. In both surveys, respondents were 26 to 58 years of age, living in Ontario, and English-fluent. We found that injured workers were more likely to report all types of chronic conditions except for diabetes and over four times more likely to report arthritis, back problems, and ulcers than respondents in the CCHS sample. They were over twice as likely to report hypertension, urinary incontinence or bowel disorders, and approximately 80% more likely to report asthma and heart disease than CCHS respondents. The most striking difference between the two groups was for the likelihood of diagnosed depression. Injured workers were over seven times more likely to report a diagnosis of depression. Finally, injured workers reported an average of over two types of chronic health conditions, as compared to an average of less than one reported by CCHS respondents. We discuss the implications of these findings for injured workers’ aging- and health-trajectories, and for Worker Compensation Boards mandated to support workers after a work injury.

Authors

• Rebecca Casey, McMaster University

• Peri J. Ballantyne, Trent University