Association between occupational clusters and allergic rhinitis in the Korean population : analysis of the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data

• Published in: Journal of Occupational Health 2018-07, Vol.60 (4), p.312-319
• Main Authors: Park, Sungjin, Jung, Pil Kyun, Choi, Myungsup, Seok, Hongdeok, Kim, Hansol, Oh, Sung‐Soo, Koh, Sang‐Baek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Agricultural management; Allergic rhinitis; Cluster Analysis; Clusters; Confidence intervals; Epidemiology; Female; Fisheries; Forestry; Hay fever; Health surveys; Humans; Industry; Male; Middle Aged; Nutrition; Nutrition Surveys; Occupational health; Occupations; Odds Ratio; Original; Population studies; Prevalence; Regression analysis; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Rhinitis; Rhinitis, Allergic - epidemiology; Statistical analysis; Statistical tests; Technicians; White collar workers; Workers; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1341-9145; 1348-9585; 1348-9585
• DOI: 10.1539/joh.2017-0234-OA

[Abstract] : [Objectives] : This study aimed to investigate the association between occupational clusters and allergic rhinitis (AR) . [Methods] : The study was based on data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES : 2007-2015) . This study included 46,965 individuals : 20,491 men and 26,474 women. AR was defined as having been diagnosed by a physician. Occupations were classified according to occupational characteristics and skill levels into white (chief executives, senior officials, legislators, managers, professionals, and technicians) , pink (clerks, clerical support workers, services and sales workers) , blue (craft and related trades workers, drivers, plant and machine operators, assemblers, elementary occupation workers) , and green (skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers) categories. We calculated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of AR according to the occupational clusters by using the chi-squared test and logistic regression. [Results] : In the study population, 10.7% of the men and 13.5% of the women had AR. The prevalence of AR was highest among white-collar workers, followed by pink, blue, and green-collar workers. Compared to green-collar workers, among men the adjusted ORs of the blue, pink, and white-collar workers were 2.00 (95% CI 1.58-2.53) , 2.46 (95% CI 1.91-3.15) , and 2.78 (95% CI 2.20-3.51) , respectively ; and among women were 2.45 (95% CI 1.99-3.02) , 2.64 (95%CI 2.15-3.25) , and 3.63 (95% CI 2.96-4.47) , respectively. [Conclusions] : This study suggests that AR prevalence is significantly associated with occupational clusters.