The Association between Social Determinants of Health, Risk Factors, Job Performance and Healthcare Costs in an Employed Population

Wayne N Burton; Alyssa B Schultz; Martha E Shepherd; David Hines

doi:10.1097/JOM.0000000000003106

The Association between Social Determinants of Health, Risk Factors, Job Performance and Healthcare Costs in an Employed Population

J Occup Environ Med. 2024 Mar 27. doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000003106. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Wayne N Burton¹, Alyssa B Schultz², Martha E Shepherd³, David Hines⁴

Affiliations

¹ Environmental and Occupational Sciences, University of Illinois School of Public Health, Chicago, IL.
² Global Health Management Research Core, Ann Arbor, MI.
³ Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Division of General Internal Medicine and Public Health, Nashville, TN.
⁴ Metro Nashville Public Schools, Nashville, TN.

PMID: 38531827
DOI: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000003106

Abstract

Objective: To compare employees of a US school district based on their social determinants of health (SDoH).

Methods: Employees (N = 5006) were categorized into low, medium, or high need SDoH tiers. Of them, N = 2469 also participated in a health risk appraisal in 2019. Subjects' average healthcare costs, health risk factors, and self-rated job performance were compared by SDoH tier and race.

Results: Significant differences were observed among the SDoH comparison groups regarding age, gender, race, and marital status. SDoH was associated with health care costs, number of health risk factors, and self-rated job performance differently for Black and White employees.

Conclusions: SDoH are complex and multi-faceted. Black employees in the high need SDoH group had higher average healthcare costs, lower self-rated job performance, and more average health risk factors than subjects in the lower need tiers.