HEALTH-STATUS AND OCCUPATION - USE OF A HEALTH-STATUS INDEX TO MEASURE THE HEALTH OF OCCUPATIONS

A total of 4466 employed persons completed the short Auckland Universi ty Health Status Index (AUHSI) questionnaire and a health score was as signed to each individual on the basis of their responses. This health score was found to have statistically significant associations with a number of health-related measures, including socio-economic status (P <0.001), and with occupational group: administrative, clerical/sales/s ervice, skilled trades and unskilled labour (P<0.001). Within the occu pational groups, 3361 employees could be assigned to 42 specific occup ations having 19 or more members each. After controlling for age and g ender, significant differences in mean health score for specific occup ation were found in the clerical/sales/service (P<0.05), skilled trade s (P=0.002) and unskilled manual (P<0.05) groups. It is postulated tha t these differences may be due to the nature of the specific occupatio n. Some possible reasons are listed. It is concluded that a global mea sure of health status such as this may be useful in the planning and e valuation of occupational health services.