Symptom reports and mortality in an occupational cohort

Area of Science:

• Occupational health
• Epidemiology
• Biostatistics

Background:

• The
• The relationship between self-reported symptoms and long-term mortality is an area of ongoing research in occupational health.
• Previous studies have explored the
• healthy worker effect
• but the influence of baseline symptom burden on this phenomenon requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the predictive value of baseline symptom reports for all-cause mortality in a cohort of male paper workers over a 24-year period.
• To examine whether the
• healthy worker effect
• is modified by the number of symptoms reported at the start of the study.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 1,224 white male nonsupervisory paper workers was followed for 24 years.
• Symptom reports were collected using the Cornell Medical Index.
• Mortality data were obtained from company records and death certificates, and analyzed using proportional hazards models and standardized mortality ratios.

Main Results:

• Symptom reports at baseline were significantly predictive of mortality (Relative Risk = 1.24, P = .0002), independent of age and biological risk factors.
• A significant
• healthy worker effect
• was observed in the cohort (Standardized Mortality Ratio = 0.66).
• This
• healthy worker effect
• was attenuated among participants reporting ten or more symptoms (Standardized Mortality Ratio = 0.77).

Conclusions:

• Baseline symptom reporting is a significant independent predictor of long-term mortality in this occupational cohort.
• The presence of numerous symptoms at baseline may indicate underlying health issues that partially offset the
• healthy worker effect
• .