Work injury risk among young people with learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Canada.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to gain a better understanding of the relationship between learning disabilities, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and risk of occupational injury among young workers.


METHODS
We assessed 15- to 24-year-old workers (n = 14 379) from cycle 2.1 of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). We gathered data on demographic characteristics, work-related factors, and presence of learning disabilities or ADHD. We conducted a multivariate logistic regression analysis to assess occurrences of medically attended work injuries.


RESULTS
There was an 89% adjusted increase in work injury risk among workers with self-reported dyslexia (a type of learning disability) relative to workers reporting no learning disabilities, although this result did not meet traditional statistical significance criteria. Being out of school, either with or without a high school diploma, was associated with a significantly increased risk of work injury, even after control for a number of demographic and work-related variables.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings underscore the notion that individual differences salient in the education system (e.g., learning disabilities, school dropout) need to be integrated into conceptual models of injury risk among young workers.
Breslin
F Curtis
FC
Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2E9. cbreslin@iwh.on.ca
Pole
Jason D
JD
D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017132:Workplace / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult