Table 1.
Age-specific and age-standardised prevalence of airflow obstruction among ever-employed US adults aged 18–79 years by smoking status for selected demographic characteristics and occupational factors—NHANES 2007–2010
| Characteristics | Ever-employed adults* | Never smokers*† | Ever smokers*† | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number in Sample |
Prevalence of airflow obstruction |
Number in Sample |
Prevalence of airflow obstruction |
Number in Sample |
Prevalence of airflow obstruction |
||||
| Per cent | 95% CI | Per cent | 95% CI | Per cent | 95% CI | ||||
| Total | 4172 | 13.7 | 12.4 to 15.0 | 2188 | 8.6 | 7.0 to 10.1 | 1972 | 19.1 | 16.6 to 21.5‡ |
| Age group (years) | |||||||||
| 18–39 | 1642 | 10.8 | 9.3 to 12.3 | 974 | 7.9 | 6.2 to 9.6 | 657 | 15.1 | 12.3 to 17.8‡ |
| 40–59 | 1416 | 13.7 | 11.9 to 15.5 | 688 | 10.2 | 7.9 to 12.4 | 728 | 17.0 | 14.3 to 19.8‡ |
| 60–79 | 1114 | 17.4 | 15.2 to 19.6 | 526 | 5.9 | 3.9 to 7.9 | 587 | 27.8 | 24.1 to 31.4‡ |
| Gender | |||||||||
| Male | 2158 | 14.8 | 12.0 to 17.6 | 969 | 8.8 | 6.2 to 11.5 | 1149 | 19.5 | 15.2 to 23.8‡ |
| Female | 2014 | 12.5 | 10.4 to 14.7 | 1219 | 8.3 | 5.7 to 10.9 | 774 | 18.4 | 14.1 to 22.8‡ |
| Race/ethnicity§ | |||||||||
| Non-Hispanic white | 1965 | 15.4 | 13.8 to 16.7 | 880 | 9.1 | 7.5 to 10.8 | 1056 | 21.2 | 18.0 to 24.3‡ |
| Non-Hispanic black | 835 | 11.5 | 8.5 to 14.4 | 466 | 9.5 | 5.8 to 13.3 | 362 | 13.6 | 9.1 to 18.2 |
| Mexican American | 739 | 8.4 | 7.0 to 9.8 | 452 | 7.7 | 5.4 to 10.0 | 273 | 9.6 | 6.2 to 13.1 |
| Occupational exposures | |||||||||
| No exposure | 1890 | 13.0 | 10.8 to 15.2 | 1200 | 8.6 | 6.4 to 10.9 | 683 | 19.9 | 14.9 to 24.8‡ |
| Any dust/fumes exposure | 2276 | 14.3 | 12.1 to 16.5 | 987 | 8.5 | 6.6 to 10.4 | 1284 | 18.5 | 15.1 to 21.9‡ |
| Mineral dust | 1380 | 15.3 | 12.1 to 18.6 | 540 | 8.4 | 5.6 to 11.2 | 838 | 19.7 | 15.2 to 24.3‡ |
| Organic dust | 953 | 15.6 | 13.0 to 18.2 | 407 | 10.6 | 7.6 to 13.5 | 544 | 18.9 | 15.4 to 22.5‡ |
| Exhaust fumes | 1087 | 17.7 | 14.5 to 21.0 | 392 | 10.5 | 7.2 to 13.8 | 694 | 21.3 | 17.0 to 25.6‡ |
| Other fumes | 1338 | 15.4 | 12.5 to 18.3 | 535 | 7.3 | 5.0 to 9.5 | 800 | 20.8 | 16.6 to 25.0‡ |
| Occupation group¶ | |||||||||
| Installation, maintenance, repair occupations | 149 | 22.1 | 16.5 to 27.8 | 50 | 99 | 26.9 | 19.5 to 34.4 | ||
| Construction, extraction occupations | 358 | 20.7 | 13.5 to 27.9 | 126 | 11.7 | 4.1 to 19.2 | 231 | 24.6 | 15.9 to 33.4‡ |
| Food preparation, serving occupations | 324 | 16.7 | 12.9 to 20.5 | 164 | 10.5 | 4.4 to 16.5 | 158 | 20.2 | 14.3 to 26.2‡ |
| Business, financial operations occupations | 107 | 16.1 | 8.0 to 24.2 | 73 | 11.3 | 3.3 to 19.3 | 34 | 23.2 | 3.7 to 42.7 |
| Production occupations | 466 | 16.0 | 10.4 to 21.7 | 201 | 264 | 21.7 | 12.0 to 31.4 | ||
| Healthcare support occupations | 127 | 15.9 | 9.4 to 22.4 | 63 | 64 | 20.2 | 9.7 to 30.7 | ||
| Computer, mathematical occupations | 63 | 14.1 | 5.2 to 23.1 | 35 | 17.2 | 2.8 to 31.6 | 28 | ¶ | |
| Architecture, engineering occupations | 75 | 13.8 | 5.1 to 22.5 | 38 | 37 | 20.7 | 5.0 to 36.4 | ||
| Education, training, library occupations | 188 | 12.3 | 7.2 to 17.4 | 128 | 13.0 | 5.9 to 20.1 | 60 | ¶ | |
| Sales and related occupations | 398 | 12.0 | 5.9 to 15.1 | 230 | 8.3 | 2.9 to 13.7 | 165 | 16.6 | 12.8 to 20.3‡ |
| Management occupations | 295 | 11.0 | 5.7 to 16.2 | 148 | 147 | 15.5 | 4.2 to 26.7 | ||
| Transportation, material moving occupations | 299 | 10.6 | 6.7 to 14.4 | 142 | 156 | 15.4 | 9.4 to 21.4 | ||
| Office, administrative support occupations | 531 | 10.3 | 6.2 to 14.5 | 330 | 5.7 | 2.0 to 9.5 | 200 | 16.0 | 11.1 to 20.9‡ |
| Farming, fishing, forestry occupations | 46 | 18 | 17.5 | 0.4 to 34.6 | 28 | 25.9 | 11.1 to 40.6 | ||
| Legal occupations | 33 | 20 | 26.0 | 17.3 to 34.6 | 13 | ¶ | |||
| Healthcare practitioner, technical occupations | 146 | 102 | 10.3 | 2.2 to 18.5 | 44 | ¶ | |||
| Personal care, service occupations | 112 | 69 | 41 | 30.5 | 14.4 to 46.6 | ||||
| Community, social services occupations | 40 | 26 | 14 | 27.3 | 6.7 to 47.9 | ||||
| Building and grounds cleaning, maintenance occupations | 213 | 114 | 99 | 22.3 | 4.6 to 40.0 | ||||
| Arts, design, entertainment, sports, media occupations | 75 | 43 | 31 | 21.4 | 3.8 to 39.0 | ||||
| Cigarette pack-years** | |||||||||
| 0–<3 | 479 | 14.7 | 10.1 to 19.3 | ||||||
| 3–<11 | 445 | 13.1 | 10.6 to 15.5 | ||||||
| 11–<28 | 457 | 21.9 | 17.1 to 26.8 | ||||||
| ≥28 | 462 | 36.0 | 25.6 to 46.3 | ||||||
Samples with valid spirometry, height and longest held occupation data were evaluated for airflow obstruction.
Smoking status data were missing for 12 participants.
Two-tailed t tests were used to determine statistically significant differences between point estimates for never and ever smokers at p<0.05.
Other Hispanic (n=468) and other (n=165) participants are included in overall estimates but separate results were not reported for these groups.
Results not shown when the relative SE for the estimated prevalence with airflow obstruction is >30% and potentially unreliable. Results for the occupation groups Armed forces (n=22); life, physical, social science occupations (n=38); and protective service occupations (n=65), were unreliable for ever-employed adults, never smokers and ever smokers.
Pack-years were estimated for ever smokers aged 20–79 years. Pack-years were missing for 82 ever smokers.