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BACKGROUND: Arthritis is a leading cause of disability and work limitations in the United States, affecting nearly 46 million adults. Almost a quarter of adults in Georgia have been diagnosed with arthritis. A painful condition consisting of approximately 100 diseases, arthritis is known to be associated with age, gender, and obesity. Potential modifiable risk factors for arthritis such as occupation, cigarette smoking, and mental distress have not been thoroughly examined in Georgia. The objective of this study is to assess occupation, smoking, and frequent mental distress as possible risk factors for arthritis.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study, using data from the 2012 Georgia Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) (N=6,100), was conducted to determine the prevalence and risk of employed adults being ever-diagnosed with arthritis. Chi-square bivariate associations were conducted to assess potential confounders. Possible associations between arthritis and occupation, smoking, and frequent mental distress were measured using multivariable logistic regression to obtain adjusted odds-ratios (OR) and 95% confidence-intervals (CI) using SAS-Callable SUDAAN.
RESULTS: Overall, 14.3% of employed Georgia adults were diagnosed with arthritis. Arthritis prevalence was highest among employed adults ages 55-64 and ≥ 65 years, females, non-Hispanic Whites, adults with less than high-school education, adults with annual income < $15,000, adults with BMI ≥ 30, adults who had no physical activity during the past month, adults with frequent mental distress, and former smokers. Arthritis prevalence was highest for adults employed in transportation and material moving (19.5%), office and administrative support (19.2%), and construction and extraction (18.2%) occupations. After adjusting for potential confounders, the risk of being diagnosed with arthritis was significantly associated with having frequent mental distress (OR: 2.25; 95% CI: 1.45-3.49), being a current smoker (OR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.25-2.62), and being a former smoker (OR: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.22-2.33) compared to never-smokers. No significant associations between occupation and arthritis were found.
CONCLUSIONS: Smoking and frequent mental distress are risk factors for arthritis among employed adults in Georgia. Due to study limitations, further exploration of occupational risk factors for arthritis is needed. Awareness of risk factors for developing arthritis is important for prevention, treatment, and resource allocation considerations. The results of this study support the need for clinicians to treat tobacco use as a vital sign and for development of worksite intervention programs for arthritis.