Devil in disguise: Does drinking lead to a disability pension?

Occupational health care personnel tackling alcohol overuse - an observational study of work processes and patient characteristics

Background

Overuse of alcohol is a significant risk factor for early retirement. This observational study investigated patient characteristics and work processes in occupational health care (OHC) affecting practices in tackling alcohol overuse.

Methods

The data were from 3089 patient contacts gathered for quality improvement purposes in fifteen OHC units during the years 2013–2019 in Finland. A two-proportion z-test was performed to find associations between reason for contact, and 17 other factors, and the probability of alcohol use being checked and overuse tackled.

Results

OHC personnel checked alcohol use twice as often with male patients as with female patients. Employees at risk of needing sick leave were checked for alcohol use more often (55.4, 95% confidence interval 49.2–61.6%) than those on > 30-day sick leave or working with permanent work disability (p < 0.01). Alcohol use was checked in 64.1% (59.5–68.7%) of patients while making an individual health promotion plan compared to 36.9% of those without a plan (33.1–40.6%, p < 0.0001). Patients with depression were actively checked for alcohol use, especially in cases of major depression (72.7%, 64.0–81.0%). Work processes in which OHC should have been more active in checking and tackling alcohol use included assessing the need for rehabilitation (36.5%, 32.0–41.0%) and health check-ups (HCUs) for mental reasons (43.8%, 38.1–49.4%). HCUs where alcohol overuse was detected led to brief interventions to tackle the overuse in 58.1% (43.4–72.9%) of cases.

Conclusions

The study showed factors that increased OHC personnel’s practices in checking and tackling alcohol use and work processes where the activity should be improved. Discussions about alcohol use took place more often with working-aged men than women, the younger the more. OHC personnel checked actively alcohol use with patients in danger of sick leave, patients treated for depression, while making an individual health promotion plan, and in planned HCUs with a confirmed protocol. More improvement is needed to conduct brief interventions in disability prevention processes, and especially when overuse is detected.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-12473-2.

The role of familial confounding in the associations of physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption with early exit from the labour market

We investigated the associations between health behaviors and sustainable working life outcomes including all-cause disability pension, disability pensions due to musculoskeletal and mental diagnoses and unemployment. The role of familial factors behind these associations was studied by analysing discordant twin pairs. Our data included Swedish twins born in 1925-1986 (51891 twin individuals). Baseline data based on two independent surveys in 1998-2003 and 2005-2006 for health behaviors were linked to national registers on disability pension and unemployment until 2016. Cox proportional hazards models for hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for the whole sample adjusting for covariates. Analyses of health behavior discordant twin pairs (n = 5903 pairs) were conducted using conditional Cox models. In the whole cohort, the combination of healthy behaviors was associated with lower risk for all-cause disability pension, disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses or mental diagnoses, and for unemployment (HRs 0.56-0.86, 95% CIs 0.51-0.92) as did being physically active (HRs 0.69-0.87, 95% CI 0.65-0.92). The discordant pair analyses confirmed the lower risk among those having healthy behaviors (HR 0.70-0.86) or being physically active (HR 0.86-0.87) for all-cause disability pension, disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses, and for unemployment. To conclude, controlling the effects of covariates or familial confounding (i.e. discordant twin pair analyses) shows that being physically active or having several healthy behaviors predict better working life outcomes. This points towards independent association between healthy behavior and longer working life.

Health condition at first fit note and number of fit notes: a longitudinal study of primary care records in south London

OBJECTIVES

The fit note replaced the sick note in the UK in 2010, with the aim of improving support for patients requiring sickness absence, yet there has been very little research into fit note use. This study aims to describe number of fit notes by condition, to improve our understanding of patterns of fit note use in primary care. Previous fit note research has relied on extracting diagnoses directly from fit notes, rather than extracting information from clinical records. In this paper, we extract information from clinical records to explore demographic factors and conditions associated with number of fit notes issued.

DESIGN

This is a longitudinal study of clinical data. We analysed individual-level anonymised data from general practitioner consultations, including demographic information and condition recorded at first fit note. The latter encompassed diagnoses, individual symptoms and psychosocial issues.

SETTING

A database called Lambeth DataNet, containing electronic clinical records on 326 415 adults (ages 16-60) from all 45 general practices within the London Borough of Lambeth from 1 January 2014 to 30 April 2017.

PARTICIPANTS

Our analytical sample contained 40 698 people with a condition recorded at first fit note.

PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE

Predicted number of fit notes in the period January 2014-April 2017 RESULTS: Of all studied diagnostic groups, mental illness had the highest predicted number of fit notes (n=3.3; 95% CI: 3.1 to 3.4) after controlling for demographic factors and long-term conditions. The highest predicted number of fit notes for any condition subgroup was among patients presenting for drug and/or alcohol misuse (n=4.5; 95% CI: 4.1 to 4.8).

CONCLUSIONS

For the first time, we show drug and/or alcohol misuse at first fit note are associated with the highest number of fit notes. Research is needed to understand the trajectories of individuals at highest risk of long-term sickness absence, in particular, people presenting with drug and/or alcohol misuse.

Trajectories of sickness absence, disability pension and unemployment in young immigrants with common mental disorders

BACKGROUND

The aims were to elucidate if trajectories of labour market marginalization (LMM), measured as sickness absence (SA)/disability pension (DP) or unemployment, differed between young immigrants and natives before and after an incident diagnosis of a common mental disorder (CMD), and to investigate if educational level, psychiatric comorbidity and duration of residence in Sweden (in immigrants) had different associations with subsequent LMM in natives compared with immigrants.

METHODS

A total of 28 971 young adults (19-30 years), with an incident CMD (inpatient or specialized outpatient healthcare due to CMDs or dispensed prescribed antidepressants during 2007) were included. Group-based trajectory models were utilized to identify trajectories of annual months of LMM 3 years before and 6 years after the diagnosis. The associations of risk factors with different trajectories were investigated by multinomial logistic regression, χ2-test and Nagelkerke R2 to measure the associations' strength. Immigrants were categorized into Western and non-Western immigrants.

RESULTS

Young natives and immigrants showed similar trajectories of SA/DP. A higher proportion of non-Western immigrants (20.5%) followed trajectories of high levels of unemployment (>2 annual months) compared with Western immigrants (15%) and natives (16.5%). Educational level and duration of residence in Sweden (in immigrants) discriminated trajectories of both SA/DP and unemployment, whereas psychiatric comorbidity only discriminated trajectories of SA/DP.

CONCLUSIONS

Differences in trajectories of unemployment between young natives and immigrants with an incident CMD were found. Educational level and psychiatric comorbidity provided information on differences between natives and immigrants and duration of residence gave information for subgroups of immigrants.

Transitioning from sickness absence to disability pension-the impact of poor health behaviours: a prospective Swedish twin cohort study

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the association between three poor health behaviours (current smoker, high consumption of alcohol and low physical activity levels) and the transition to disability pension (DP) among individuals who have recently been sickness absent. Furthermore, we aimed to explore whether having multiple poor health behaviours increased the risk of transitioning from sickness absence (SA) to DP.

DESIGN

Prospective twin cohort study.

SETTING

Sweden.

PARTICIPANTS

Twins aged 20-46 who had participated in a survey and been on SA (>14 days) in the year preceding baseline (date of answering the questionnaire).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Incident DP during the follow-up which ended on 31 December 2012 (mean 5.2 years). A national register with full coverage provided data on DP.

RESULTS

The Cox proportional-hazards regression analyses showed that current smokers had a higher risk of transitioning from SA to DP compared with never smokers (HR 1.76; 95% CI 1.08 to 2.84). Alcohol use and lack of physical activity as well as poor health behaviour sum score showed no significant associations.

CONCLUSIONS

Being a current smoker influences the transition from SA to DP. Although non-significant, there were indications that more physical activity and fewer poor health behaviours could reduce the risk of exiting the labour market through DP. Improving health behaviours among people on SA could be a valuable tool for preventing the transition to DP.

Predictors and estimation of risk for early exit from working life by poor health among middle and older aged workers in Korea

The aims of this study were to investigate the predictors and estimate the risk for early exit from work owing to poor personal health status of the retirees. This study analysed the longitudinal data of 2,708 workers aged more than 45 years old from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Multivariate Cox regression analyses were conducted to identify the predictors and to build a prediction model for early exit from work due to poor health. Internal validation was performed using random split, and external validation using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Over the 8-year follow-up, 124 workers exited work early because of poor health. Significant predictors for early exit from work due to poor health included hypertension (hazard ratio [HR], 1.52; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-2.28), abnormal body mass index (HR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.10-2.35), decreased grasping power index, and perceived health status. The prediction model designed to estimate the risk of unwanted early exit from work because of poor health status showed fair performance in both the internal and external validations. The current study revealed the specific determinants and the possibility of prediction of shortened working life due to poor health status.

Unfit for work: Health and labour-market prospects

AIM

The aim of this study was to examine whether health status (number of chronic diseases, health shock and use of tranquilizers/sleeping pills) is related to labour-market outcomes later in life.

METHODS

Twin data for Finnish men and women who were at least 33 years old in 1990 were linked to comprehensive register-based information on unemployment and the incidence of disability pension. We used the within-twin dimension of the data to account for shared family and genetic factors. Self-reported information on the number of diagnosed chronic diseases, health shock and drug use were obtained from the 1975 and 1981 twin surveys, when the twins were at least 18 years old. Unemployment months and the incidence of disability pension were measured during prime working age over the 1990-2004/2009 period.

RESULTS

Poor health status is significantly positively related to unemployment and the incidence of disability pension. The results are robust to controlling for shared family and genetic factors and the key measures of risky health behaviours (alcohol use, lifetime smoking and body mass index).

CONCLUSIONS

Health status is a fundamental determinant of long-term labour-market outcomes.

Risk of disability pension in first and second generation immigrants: the role of age and region of birth in a prospective population-based study from Sweden

BACKGROUND

In several countries, immigrants have higher disability pension (DP) rates than natives. Reasons for this are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate if the risk of diagnosis-specific DP differed in first, second, and second/intermediate generation immigrants compared to natives, in general and across regions of birth, and stratified by age.

METHODS

A population-based prospective cohort study of all 3,507,055 individuals aged 19-50 years and living in Sweden in 2004 with a 6-year follow-up period. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for mental and somatic DP were estimated by Cox regression for first, second, and second/intermediate generation immigrants compared to natives, across regions of birth and stratified by age.

RESULTS

After multivariate adjustment, HRs for both mental and somatic DP were higher at follow-up in the first generation compared to natives: mental HR 1.17 (CI 1.12-1.22) and somatic 1.15 (1.09-1.22) for individuals <35 years; 1.74 (1.69-1.79) and 1.70 (1.66-1.74) ≥35 years (median), respectively. Immigrants born in Europe outside EU25, and countries outside Europe had particularly elevated HRs. Also in the second generation, HRs were higher in mental 1.29 (1.21-1.37) and somatic DP: 1.30 (1.19-1.42) in those <35 years; and 1.18 (1.10-1.27); and 1.10 (1.03-1.17) for those ≥35 years, respectively. Among second generation immigrants there were no strong differences in HRs between regions of birth.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared to natives, the risk of DP was higher in first and second generation immigrants. Higher estimates were seen for immigrants from Europe outside EU25 and from the rest of the world in the first generation. No considerable differences in estimates regarding mental or somatic DP diagnoses were found.

Childhood adversity, adult socioeconomic status and risk of work disability: a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES

To examine the combined effects of childhood adversities and low adult socioeconomic status (SES) on the risk of future work disability.

METHODS

Included were 34 384 employed Finnish Public Sector study participants who responded to questions about childhood adversities (none vs any adversity, eg, parental divorce or financial difficulties) in 2008, and whose adult SES in 2008 was available. We categorised exposure into four groups: neither (reference), childhood adversity only, low SES only or both. Participants were followed from 2009 until the first period of register-based work disability (sickness absence >9 days or disability pension) due to any cause, musculoskeletal or mental disorders; retirement; death or end of follow-up (December 2011). We ran Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for behavioural, health-related and work-related covariates, and calculated synergy indices for the combined effects.

RESULTS

When compared with those with neither exposure, HR for work disability from any cause was increased among participants with childhood adversity, with low SES, and those with both exposures. The highest hazard was observed in those with both exposures: HR 2.53, 95% CI 2.29 to 2.79 for musculoskeletal disability, 1.55, 95% CI 1.36 to 1.78 for disability due to mental disorders and 1.29, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.39 for disability due to other reasons. The synergy indices did not indicate synergistic effects.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that childhood psychosocial adversity and low adult SES are additive risk factors for work disability.