Program > Saturday > 11:15 > Session 12. Long-duration disability episodes

Paper: Health status of injured workers with permanent impairments: Comparisons by income status
Author(s) and Affiliation(s):
Peri Ballantyne, Trent University & Institute for Work and Health
Rebecca Casey, McMaster University
Fergal O’Hagan, Trent University & Institute for Work and Health
Pat Vienneau, Research Action Alliance on the Consequences of Work Injury
Kristen Schultz, Trent University
Session : 12. Long-duration disability episodes
Day/Time: Saturday at 11:15
Room: St. Patrick Room, 3rd Floor
Objectives:

Recent reports have documented the relationship between income and health inequalities. These suggest that the poor experience a higher rate of adverse health conditions such as disabilities, mental and behavioural disorders, circulatory conditions, and chronic conditions, as well as unequal access to health care (1-3). Our objective was to examine injured workers’ pre- and post-accident incomes and to compare lower and higher income-earning groups in a sample of injured workers on key health status indicators.

Methods:

We used the RAACWI injured worker health and health-care utilization survey to complete the analysis. The study sample was selected with assistance from the WSIB and includes 494 first-time claimants with the WSIB, who have permanent impairments. The survey was conducted by the York University Institute for Social Research via telephone interviewing. All data is self-reported, and includes sample demographics, details on both pre-accident and post-accident physical health, mental health, employment and income. It also includes details on post-accident health-care utilization and health-care deficits. In this presentation we distinguish income groups, comparing lowest- (Q1) and highest-earning (Q5) income quintiles on selected health status indicators.

Results:

The average post-accident personal income of Q1 and Q5 was $7,620, and $70,450, representing an average income-change-since-accident of - $19,485 and + $13,181 for each group. On all health indicators examined, Q1 and Q5 differences were consistent with published literature on health and income inequalities: as compared to Q5, Q1 had poorer self-rated health, reported their health to be worse than the day before their accident, were more likely to report post-accident diagnoses (back problems, mobility impairment, RSI, depression, hypertension), and post-accident health problems (sleeplessness, anxiety). We illustrate these findings, and show their relationship to health-care utilization and deficits.

Conclusions:

There is a paucity of data showing the health-related trajectories of injured workers as they relate to post-accident (un)employment, income (in)security and earnings recovery. An established literature on the relationship between poverty and/or income inequality and health tells us that spiralling negative health experiences follow poverty (and predict it). Leaders of workers’ compensation systems need to be aware of the health risks facing injured workers who are unable to recover their pre-accident earnings and who fall into poverty or near poverty; and to consider appropriate institutional responses to these particular injured workers.

References:

1. Community Social Planning Council of Toronto. (2009) Sick and Tired: the Compromised Health of Social Assistance Recipients and the Working Poor in Ontario.

2. Lightman E., Michell A. and Wilson B. (2008) Poverty is Making Us Sick. A Comprehensive Survey of Income and Health in Canada. Toronto, Ontario.

3. Laurie N. (2008) The Cost of Poverty: An Analysis of the Economic Cost of Poverty in Ontario. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Association of Food Banks.