Toronto • May 28-29, 2010 • Student Day and Workshops: May 27
Program > Saturday > 11:15 > Session 13. Education, training and health promotion in occupational health
Paper: Health screening in the workplace – Preliminary results from the WorkHealth Program in Victoria, Australia
Author(s) and Affiliation(s):
Alex Collie, Monash University, Melbourne Australia
Malcolm Sim, Monash University, Melbourne Australia
Julie Harrick, WorkSafe Victoria, Melbourne Australia
John McNeill, Monash University, Melbourne Australia
Day/Time: Saturday at 11:15
Room: Armoury Suite, 2nd Floor
Objectives:
The workplace is becoming an increasingly important setting for establishing health promotion and screening programs aimed at reducing the burden of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and cancer. This paper seeks to describe the rates of CVD and diabetes risk factors among workers in the state of Victoria, Australia.
Methods:
The WorkHealth program was introduced in the state of Victoria, Australia in 2008 by WorkSafe Victoria, the government body responsible for workers’ health, safety and compensation in that state. The aims of the WorkHealth program are to reduce the burden of chronic disease in the community and to increase health and well-being in the workforce. A major component of WorkHealth is the availability of free health checks to screen workers for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes. The health checks involve completing a lifestyle questionnaire, measurement of blood pressure, waist circumference, cholesterol and random blood glucose levels. The lifestyle questionnaire includes gender, age, ethnicity, modifiable lifestyle behaviours (such as tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption) and relevant personal and family medical history. 40,000 health checks had been completed by November 2009.
Results:
There were significantly higher rates of risk factors among males, with 63.0% referred to their general practitioner due to the presence of one or more measured risk factors, compared to 41.5% of women. Rates of diabetes and hypertension also varied by occupation, with those employed in professional services, technicians and tradespeople, and managers more likely to display one or more risk factors for CVD or diabetes. Sales workers, service workers and those in community and personal services were least likely to display risk factors.
Conclusions:
Mass health screening in the workplace is feasible. Male workers are more likely to display CVD and diabetes risk factors than women, and certain occupational groups are at higher risk for CVD and diabetes than others.
