Exploring the relationship between self-employment and women’s cardiovascular health

Abstract

Background Compared with wage and salary work, self-employment has been linked to more favorable cardiovascular health outcomes within the general population. Women comprise a significant proportion of the self-employed workforce and are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease. Self-employed women represent a unique population in that their cardiovascular health outcomes may be related to gender-specific advantages of non-traditional employment. To date, no studies have comprehensively explored the association between self-employment and risk factors for cardiovascular disease among women. Methods We conducted a weighted cross-sectional analysis using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Our study sample consisted of 4624 working women (employed for wages and self-employed) enrolled in the 2016 HRS cohort. Multivariable linear and logistic regression were used to examine the relationship between self-employment and several self-reported physical and mental health risk factors for cardiovascular disease, controlling for healthcare access. Results Among working women, self-employment was associated with a 34% decrease in the odds of reporting obesity, a 43% decrease in the odds of reporting hypertension, a 30% decrease in the odds of reporting diabetes, and a 68% increase in the odds of reporting participation in at least twice-weekly physical activity (p < 0.05). BMI for self-employed women was on average 1.79 units lower than it was for women working for wages (p < 0.01). Conclusions Employment structure may have important implications for cardiovascular health among women, and future studies should explore the causal relationship between self-employment and cardiovascular health outcomes in this population. Trial Registration: Not applicable.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practice related to tooth loss and dentures among patients with dental arch deficiencies

“…Older individuals were found to have lower knowledge about dental arch deficiencies, which may be due to generational differences in access to oral health information [ 49 ]. Suburban residents and self-employed individuals were found to have slightly lower odds of knowledge, possibly due to differences in healthcare access and information availability [ 50 – 52 ]. The study also found a significant positive association between knowledge and attitude, highlighting the importance of knowledge in shaping the attitude of individuals toward dental arch deficiency [ 53 ].…”

Self-employment, educational attainment, and hypertension among Black women and men

“…Covariates were included in statistical analyses because they may confound the associations between the independent and dependent variables ( 27 , 28 , 30 , 33 , 58 – 61 ). Age was measured continuously.…”