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Purpose This study aimed to understand age differences in wage-replacement duration by focusing on variations in the relationship across different periods of follow-up time. Methods We used administrative claims data provided by six workers' compensation systems in Canada. Included were time-loss claims for workers aged 15-80 years with a work-related injury/illness during the 2011 to 2015 period (N = 751,679 claims). Data were coded for comparability across cohorts. Survival analysis examined age-related differences in the hazard of transitioning off (versus remaining on) disability benefits, allowing for relaxed proportionality constraints on the hazard rates over time. Differences were examined on the absolute (hazard difference) and relative (hazard ratios [HR]) scales. Results Older age groups had a lower likelihood of transitioning off wage-replacement benefits compared to younger age groups in the overall models (e.g., 55-64 vs. 15-24 years: HR 0.62). However, absolute and relative differences in age-specific hazard rates varied as a function of follow-up time. The greatest age-related differences were observed at earlier event times and were attenuated towards a null difference across later follow-up event times. Conclusions Our study provides new insight into the workplace injury/illness claim and recovery processes and suggests that older age is not always strongly associated with worse disability duration outcomes. The use of data from multiple jurisdictions lends external validity to our findings and demonstrates the utility of using cross-jurisdictional data extracts. Future work should examine the social and contextual determinants that operate during various recovery phases, and how these factors interact with age.

Objectives: Psychosocial work conditions are determinants of mental illness among worker populations. However, while the focus on negative aspects of mental health has generated important contributions to the development of workplace interventions, there is less evidence on the factors that support the positive aspects of mental well-being. This study aimed to examine the association between psychosocial work conditions and mental health outcomes among a representative sample of Canadian workers; and to assess whether the relationships are consistent across measures of mental illness versus mental well-being., Methods: Population-based data were obtained from the cross-sectional 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey. Psychosocial work conditions were measured using an abbreviated version of the Job Content Questionnaire. For mental illness, we focused on major depressive episodes, generalized anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorders in the past 12 months, as measured using Composite International Diagnostic Interview criteria. Mental well-being was defined as having flourishing mental health, based on items from the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form. Regression models provided odds ratios (ORs) and fitted probabilities for the relationship between work conditions and mental health, adjusting for covariates., Results: Higher levels of job control, social support, and job security were associated with being free of disorders (ORs ranging from 1.08 to 1.15) as well as having flourishing mental health (ORs ranging from 1.10 to 1.14). Lower physical effort was associated with decreased odds of having flourishing mental health (OR 0.89). Psychological demands were not associated with any of the mental health outcomes in the fully-adjusted models. The overall pattern of these relationships was consistent across the two outcome models, although there was evidence of heterogeneity on the absolute probability scale. Specifically, there was a relatively stronger relationship between job control/social support/physical demands and well-being outcomes, compared with disorder outcomes., Conclusions: Psychosocial work conditions were associated with both negative and positive measures of mental health. However, mental illness and mental well-being may represent complementary, yet distinct, aspects in relation to psychosocial work conditions. Interventions targeting the psychosocial work environment may serve to improve both of these dimensions, although the measurement and examination of specific dimensions may be required to obtain an integrated and comprehensive understanding of mental health in the workplace., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.)