title: Low-socioeconomic status workers: their health risks and how to reach them.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To help workplace health promotion practitioners reach low-socioeconomic status workers at high risk for chronic diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  We describe low-socioeconomic status workers' diseases, health status, demographics, risk behaviors, and workplaces, using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, and Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Workers with household annual incomes less than $35,000, or a high school education or less, report more chronic diseases and lower health status. They tend to be younger, nonwhite, and have much higher levels of smoking and missed cholesterol screening. They are concentrated in the smallest and largest workplaces and in three low-wage industries that employ one-quarter of the population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To decrease chronic diseases among low-socioeconomic status workers, we need to focus workplace health promotion programs on workers in low-wage industries and small workplaces.
authors.affiliation: Health Promotion Research Center, Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, University of Washington, 1107 NE 45th Street, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. jh7@uw.edu
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Peggy A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Hannon
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011203:Poverty; D012306:Risk; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D012923:Social Class; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002784:Cholesterol