1. Association of teleworking and smoking behavior of U.S. wage and salary workers.
- Author
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Nargis N, Li Q, Griffin L, Asare S, Bandi P, Majmundar A, Westmaas JL, and Jemal A
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Occupations statistics & numerical data, Pandemics, Prevalence, SARS-CoV-2, United States epidemiology, Young Adult, COVID-19 epidemiology, Smoking epidemiology, Teleworking statistics & numerical data
- Abstract
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a major shift in workspace from office to home. This report examined how telecommuting is related to smoking behavior of wage and salary workers., Methods: Self-reported smoking behavior of 1,390 U.S. wage and salary workers aged 16-64 years from the Tobacco Use Supplement of the Current Population Survey 2018/19 were linked to the 2018 American Time Use Survey. Weighted multivariate logistic regression predicting smoking probability and generalized linear regression predicting smoking intensity were used for analysis., Results: Almost a fifth (19%) of wage and salary workers reported working from home and over a half (52%) reported working in telecommuting amenable occupations. Nearly 12% were current smokers, smoking 14.7 cigarettes daily on average. Compared to their counterparts, smoking prevalence (percentage points) was lower among those employed in telecommuting amenable occupations (-0.52, p < .001 for all; 0.01, p = .862 for men; -2.40, p < .001 for women) and who worked more frequently from home (-0.21, p < .001 for all; -0.76, p < .001 for men; -0.03, p = .045 for women). Smoking intensity (cigarettes per day) was lower among those employed in telecommuting amenable occupations (-3.39, p = .03 for all; -0.36, p = .90 for men; -4.30, p = .21 for women). We found no statistically significant association between smoking intensity and telecommuting frequency., Conclusions: The lower likelihood of smoking and lower level of smoking intensity among telecommuting wage and salary workers suggests the need for proactive efforts to address the potential exacerbation in occupation-related smoking disparities between occupations that are and are not amenable to telecommuting., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)
- Published
- 2021
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