The Interplay between Multimorbidity, Physical Work Demands and Work Ability: Cross-Sectional Study among 12,879 Senior Workers

Karina Glies Vincents Seeberg, Sebastian Venge Skovlund, Rúni Bláfoss, Kristina Thomassen, Lasse Malchow-Møller, Emil Sundstrup and Lars Louis Andersen
Additional contact information
Karina Glies Vincents Seeberg: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Sebastian Venge Skovlund: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Rúni Bláfoss: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Kristina Thomassen: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Lasse Malchow-Møller: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Emil Sundstrup: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Lars Louis Andersen: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Aging increases the risk of chronic diseases, which can challenge the ability to work and thereby push senior workers out of the labour market. This study investigates the association between non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and work ability among workers ≥50 years (senior workers) with physically demanding and sedentary work, respectively. Methods: In the SeniorWorkingLife study, 12,879 senior workers replied to a questionnaire survey on work and health in 2018. Associations between the type and number of NCD and work ability (scale 0–10) were modelled using a general linear model adjusting for potential confounders and combined with model-assisted weights from national registers. Results: A higher number of NCD (multimorbidity) was progressively associated with a lower work ability (trend test, p -value < 0.001). Physical work influenced the association between the number of NCDs and work ability. For specific diseases, mental disorders, including burn-out syndrome (least square mean difference (LSMD): −1.46, 95% CI: −1.61 to −1.32) and stress ( LSMD: −1.18, 95% CI: −1.29 to −1.07), demonstrated a stronger association with a lower work ability compared with somatic diseases, such as back diseases (LSMD: −0.72, 95% CI: −0.80 to −0.64). Conclusions: Multimorbidity was progressively associated with a lower work ability in senior workers, especially among those with physical work.

Keywords: multimorbidity; musculoskeletal diseases; mental disorder; somatic disease; chronic disease; workers; work ability; workplace (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5023/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5023/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5023-:d:798284

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().