Table 2.
Population characteristics for participants reporting a job change because the work affected their breathing (125 cases), and matched controls
| Controls | Cases specifying job in year prior to change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variable (% of valid)* | Females (n=4592) | Males (n=3760) | Females (n=47) | Males (n=78) |
| Mean age in years | 38.4 | 39.4 | 39.6 | 40.4 |
| Smoking | ||||
| Never smoked | 2268 (50.6) | 1814 (49.2) | 19 (40) | 31 (40) |
| Ex-smoker | 1087 (24.2) | 903 (24.5) | 12 (26) | 21 (27) |
| Current smoker | 1130 (25.2) | 967 (26.2) | 16 (34) | 25 (32) |
| Asthma symptoms in past 12 months: | ||||
| Wheezing | 955 (21.2) | 754 (20.3) | 27 (60) | 42 (56) |
| Chest tightness | 698 (15.6) | 448 (12.2) | 25 (56) | 38 (51) |
| Dyspnoea | 307 (6.9) | 261 (7.2) | 17 (38) | 29 (38) |
| Physician-diagnosed asthma | 490 (11.0) | 395 (10.8) | 28 (64) | 34 (45) |
| Symptoms prior to age 16 | 307 (66.5) | 243 (64.3) | 12 (44) | 19 (56) |
| Nasal allergy | 1387 (30.9) | 1154 (31.4) | 30 (67) | 43 (55) |
*Each categorical variable had missing values; these did not exceed 9% of the column total.