ePrints

Morbidities among older workers and work exit: The HEAF cohort

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Holly Syddall

Downloads

Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.

Abstract

© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. Background: Governments need people to work to older ages, but the prevalence of chronic disease and comorbidity increases with age and impacts work ability. Aims: To investigate the effects of objective health diagnoses on exit from paid work amongst older workers. Methods: Health and Employment After Fifty (HEAF) is a population cohort of adults aged 50-64 years recruited from English GP practices which contribute to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). Participants have completed questionnaires about health and work at baseline and annually for 2 years: their responses were linked with their objective health diagnoses from the CPRD and data analysed using Cox regression. Results: Of 4888 HEAF participants ever in paid work, 580 (25%) men and 642 (25%) women exited employment, 277 of them mainly or partly for a health reason (health-related job loss (HRJL)). Amongst HEAF participants who remained in work (n = 3666) or who exited work but not for health reasons (n = 945), there was a similar prevalence of background health conditions. In men and women, HRJL was associated with inflammatory arthritis, sleep disorders, common mental health conditions and musculoskeletal pain. There were however gender differences: widespread pain and lower limb osteoarthritis were associated with HRJL in women but hypertension and cardiovascular disease in men. Conclusions: Improved diagnosis and management of common conditions might be expected to increase working lives. Workplace well-being interventions targeting obesity and increasing mobility might contribute to extended working lives. Employers of predominantly female, as compared with male workforces may need different strategies to retain older workers.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Walker-Bone K, D'Angelo S, Linaker CH, Stevens MJ, Ntani G, Cooper C, Syddall HE

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Occupational Medicine

Year: 2022

Volume: 72

Issue: 7

Pages: 470-477

Print publication date: 01/10/2022

Online publication date: 29/07/2022

Acceptance date: 02/04/2018

ISSN (print): 0962-7480

ISSN (electronic): 1471-8405

Publisher: Oxford University Press

URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqac068

DOI: 10.1093/occmed/kqac068

PubMed id: 35904117

Altmetrics

Share