Perceived Health Status of Young, Adult and Older Workers in Guayaquil Perceived Health Status of Young, Adult and Older Workers in Guayaquil

Abstract

At present, it is notoriously important to know about the state of health of workers and its relationship with age and sex, due to normal aging and the prevalence of specific ailments and symptoms. Nevertheless, there are few studies on this problem in our country. In this sense, the aim of this study was to compare the differences in risk of the main health problems in adults and older versus younger people by sex. For this purpose, data from the application of the First Survey on Safety and Health Conditions at Work (I-ECSST) in a sample of workers in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil (n = 1049) were used. In general, women report more health problems than men. The probability of suffering from upper limb and head complaints and gastrointestinal, ophthalmological and cardio-circulatory problems increases with increasing age in women. The different findings suggest the need for further studies to clarify the explanatory factors of health status. Until then, health promotion actions should be reinforced in the older working population, as they are preventable predictors of mortality.