Orlando Gomez-Marin, PhD, MSc, Lora E. Fleming, MD PhD, William LeBlanc, PhD, David James Lee, PhD, Terry Pitman, BA, and Alberto Juan Caban, BSc. Epidemiology & Public Health and Pediatrics, University of Miami School of Medicine, Highland Professional Building, 1801 NW 9th Ave, Miami, FL 33136, (305) 243-6863, Ogomez@med.miami.edu

Objectives: In occupational epidemiologic research, data on current job are often used as surrogate for longest held job and its exposures. We evaluated concordance between current and longest held jobs in a large, population-based, representative sample of US workers.

Methods:Cohen’s Kappa was used for analyses of combined data from the 1986 NHIS Supplement on Longest Held Job and the 1988 NHIS Supplement on Occupational Health. Included were over 49,000 workers, age 18 years and over, in occupational groups with an estimated employment of 100,000 persons or more. Analyses were performed for different occupational categories by gender, race, and ethnic subgroups.

Results: Statistically significant percent Kappa values (± SE) were observed for all occupational groups and ranged from 31.7 ± 1.1 to 71.2 ± 0.4 when 13 broad occupational categories were considered; from 25.6 ± 2.3 to 85.6 ± 1.4 for 41 more detailed categories; and from 9.2 ± 3.1 to 92.7 ± 2.6 for 206 detailed categories. Statistically significant differences were observed between occupational groups, and between gender and race-specific Kappa values within certain occupational groups.

Conclusions: The high levels of agreement found in this large, population-based, representative sample of US workers indicate that for most occupational categories current or most recent occupation and industry could be used as a surrogate for longest held job (and its exposures), particularly when lifetime work histories are not available. However, given the rapidly changing employment patterns in the US and elsewhere, confirmatory analyses using more current data are warranted in the future.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the occupations with the highest and the lowest job stability.
• Identify the occupations with the highest and lowest gender- and/or race specific job stability
• Discuss the need for additional research in job stability, given the rapidly changing employment patterns in the US and elsewhere.
• Describe the design of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the NHIS for occupational health research

Keywords: Occupational Surveillance, Occupational Exposure

Related Web page: www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/niehs/niosh/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.