Surveillance of occupational health disparities: challenges and opportunities.
Increasingly, the occupational health community is turning its attention to the effects of work on previously underserved populations, and researchers have identified many examples of disparities in occupational health outcomes. However, the occupational health status of some underserved worker populations is not described due to limitations in existing surveillance systems. As such, the occupational health community has identified the need to enhance and improve occupational health surveillance to describe the nature and extent of disparities in occupational illnesses and injuries (including fatalities), identify priorities for research and intervention, and evaluate trends. This report summarizes the data sources and methods discussed at an April 2008 workshop organized by NIOSH on the topic of improving surveillance for occupational health disparities. We discuss the capability of existing occupational health surveillance systems to document occupational health disparities and to provide surveillance data on minority and other underserved communities. Use of administrative data, secondary data analysis, and the development of targeted surveillance systems for occupational health surveillance are also discussed. Identifying and reducing occupational health disparities is one of NIOSH's priority areas under the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA).
Souza
Kerry
K
Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Washington, District of Columbia, USA. ksouza@cdc.gov
Steege
Andrea L
AL
Baron
Sherry L
SL
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000401:mortality; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D009314:National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U.S.; D016272:Occupational Health; D011159:Population Surveillance; D017751:Safety Management; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014489:United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration