Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

  • Volume 35
  • /
  • Pages.29.1-29.10
  • /
  • 2023
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  • 1225-3618(pISSN)
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  • 2052-4374(eISSN)
The Korean Society of Occupational & Environmental Medicine (대한직업환경의학회)
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Association between lone work and self-rated health status: using the 5th Korean Working Conditions Survey

  • Eunseun Han (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Ui-Jin Kim (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Yongho Lee (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Sanghyuk Lee (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Seunghon Ham (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Wanhyung Lee (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Won-Jun Choi (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center) ;
  • Seong-Kyu Kang (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gil Medical Center)
  • Received : 2023.01.02
  • Accepted : 2023.06.30
  • Published : 2023.12.31
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Abstract

Background: Lone workers are generally defined as individuals who work alone without supervision, including self-employed people. While lone workers are considered a vulnerable group in some countries, there is a lack of research on their health status in domestic studies. Globally, the number of lone workers has been increasing, and this trend has been further accelerated since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with the rise of remote work. Methods: The study analyzed data from 44,281 participants, excluding unpaid family workers, soldiers, and those with missing data. Lone workers were defined as individuals who reported having no colleagues with the same job at their current workplace. Self-rated health status was categorized as "good" or "poor." Results: This study found a statistically significant higher number of lone workers among women compare to men. The largest occupational category for lone workers was service and sales workers, followed by agriculture and fisheries workers. A majority of non-lone workers reported working 40 hours or less per week, while the majority of lone workers reported working 53 hours or more per week. In addition, lone workers had significantly poorer health status evaluations compared to non-lone workers (odds ratio: 1.297; 95% confidence interval: 1.165-1.444). Conclusions: Further research is needed to investigate the causal relationship between lone work and health, using data collected after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Safety and Health Policy Research Department (Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, OSHRI) for offering raw-data of KWCS (Korean Working Conditions Survey). The paper's contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official vies of the OSHRI.

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