Baseline characteristics of DWH Oil Spill Coast Guard responders and non-responders
| Characteristics | Non-responders (n=44 823) | Responders (n=8696) | Responders who completed a survey (n=5665) | Responders who did not complete a survey (n=3031) | ||||
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | |
| Age | ||||||||
| Less than 25 years old | 12 569 | 28.0 | 1658 | 19.1 | 986 | 17.4 | 672 | 22.2 |
| 25–34 years old | 19 197 | 42.8 | 3888 | 44.7 | 2489 | 43.9 | 1399 | 46.2 |
| 35–50 years old | 12 119 | 27.0 | 2864 | 32.9 | 1996 | 35.2 | 868 | 28.6 |
| >50 years old | 938 | 2.1 | 286 | 3.3 | 194 | 3.4 | 92 | 3.0 |
| Gender | ||||||||
| Male | 38 290 | 85.4 | 7452 | 85.7 | 4809 | 84.9 | 2643 | 87.2 |
| Female | 6533 | 14.6 | 1244 | 14.3 | 856 | 15.1 | 388 | 12.8 |
| Ethnic group | ||||||||
| White | 34 495 | 77.0 | 6678 | 76.8 | 4324 | 76.3 | 2354 | 77.7 |
| Black or African–American | 2422 | 5.4 | 424 | 4.9 | 261 | 4.6 | 163 | 5.4 |
| Asian/AI/AN/NH/PI* | 1677 | 3.7 | 318 | 3.7 | 216 | 3.8 | 102 | 3.4 |
| Other | 2309 | 5.2 | 430 | 4.9 | 287 | 5.1 | 143 | 4.7 |
| Unknown | 3920 | 8.7 | 846 | 9.7 | 577 | 10.2 | 269 | 8.9 |
| Employee class | ||||||||
| Active duty | 39 260 | 87.6 | 5964 | 68.6 | 3492 | 61.6 | 2472 | 81.6 |
| Selected Reserve | 5563 | 12.4 | 2732 | 31.4 | 2173 | 38.4 | 559 | 18.4 |
| Employee type | ||||||||
| Enlisted | 36 037 | 80.4 | 6467 | 74.4 | 4172 | 73.6 | 2295 | 75.7 |
| Officer | 7627 | 17.0 | 2200 | 25.3 | 1474 | 26.0 | 726 | 24.0 |
| Other (cadet/unknown) | 1159 | 2.6 | 29 | 0.3 | 19 | 0.3 | 10 | 0.3 |
| Educational attainment | ||||||||
| Less than high school graduate | 176 | 0.4 | 42 | 0.5 | 30 | 0.5 | 12 | 0.4 |
| High school graduate or equivalent | 30 378 | 67.8 | 5096 | 58.6 | 3208 | 56.6 | 1888 | 62.3 |
| Some college/technical school | 6879 | 15.3 | 1487 | 17.1 | 992 | 17.5 | 495 | 16.3 |
| Bachelor’s-level degree | 5050 | 11.3 | 1512 | 17.4 | 1035 | 18.3 | 477 | 15.7 |
| Master’s-level degree | 849 | 1.9 | 301 | 3.5 | 219 | 3.9 | 82 | 2.7 |
| Doctorate-level degree | 106 | 0.2 | 41 | 0.5 | 31 | 0.5 | 10 | 0.3 |
| Other or not indicated | 1385 | 3.1 | 217 | 2.5 | 150 | 2.6 | 67 | 2.2 |
| Number of deployments for DWH | ||||||||
| 1 | 8255 | 94.9 | 5373 | 94.8 | 2882 | 95.1 | ||
| 2 | 388 | 4.5 | 268 | 4.7 | 120 | 4.0 | ||
| 3–5 | 53 | 0.6 | 24 | 0.4 | 29 | 1.0 | ||
| Median duration of DWH deployment (days) | 39.0 | 48.0 | 31.0 | |||||
| Timing of DWH deployment† | ||||||||
| Pre-July 15 capping of well | 6171 | 71.0 | 3882 | 68.5 | 2289 | 75.5 | ||
| July 15 and after | 2400 | 27.6 | 1783 | 31.5 | 617 | 20.4 | ||
| Missing | 125 | 1.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 125 | 4.1 | ||
| Time between end of DWH deployment and taking survey (days)‡ | ||||||||
| Survey 1 median | 1.0 | – | – | |||||
| Survey 2 median§ | 153.0 | – | – | |||||
| Average hours of sleep per night‡ | ||||||||
| <6 | 1494 | 26.4 | – | – | ||||
| 6–<8 | 3593 | 63.4 | – | – | ||||
| 8+ | 578 | 10.2 | – | – | ||||
| Smoked during deployment‡ | ||||||||
| Yes | 1068 | 18.9 | – | – | ||||
| No | 4597 | 81.2 | – | – | ||||
| Use of any oil exposure-reducing PPE‡ | 4099 | 72.4 | – | – | ||||
*AI, American Indian; AN, Alaska Native; NH, Native Hawaiian; PI, Pacific Islander.†125 responders who did not complete a survey had no dates reported.‡Survey data only.§The timestamp of survey 2 is missing for 20% (N=950) of responders.
Bold typeface indicates statistical significance.
DWH, Deepwater Horizon; PPE, personal protective equipment.