Boden L I, Cabral H
Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, MA 02118, USA.
Am J Public Health. 1995 Aug;85(8 Pt 1):1070-5. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.8_pt_1.1070.
This study measures the relative impact of company economic characteristics and workplace hazards on the prevalence of several types of medical testing. It uses the results to assess likely public health impacts of testing.
We used data on potential exposure to workplace hazards, medical testing, unionization, firm size, and turnover from the National Occupational Hazards Survey and the National Occupational Exposure Survey. Other sources provided industry-specific data on wages and turnover. Logistic regression analysis estimated the relationship of economic variables and workplace health risks to the prevalence of medical testing.
Economic variables were related to the prevalence of testing. However, consistent positive relationships were not found between health hazards and testing.
Employers' testing decisions may not be beneficial to the health of workers and may shift the costs of illness to workers or other employers. Safer firms may provide too much medical testing, and firms that are less safe may provide too little.
本研究衡量公司经济特征和工作场所危害对几种医学检测患病率的相对影响。它利用这些结果评估检测可能对公众健康产生的影响。
我们使用了来自国家职业危害调查和国家职业暴露调查的关于潜在接触工作场所危害、医学检测、工会化、企业规模和人员流动率的数据。其他来源提供了特定行业的工资和人员流动率数据。逻辑回归分析估计了经济变量和工作场所健康风险与医学检测患病率之间的关系。
经济变量与检测患病率相关。然而，未发现健康危害与检测之间存在一致的正相关关系。
雇主的检测决策可能对工人健康无益，且可能将疾病成本转嫁给工人或其他雇主。更安全的公司可能进行了过多的医学检测，而安全性较低的公司可能检测过少。
