Differences in hospitalizations between employment industries, Finland 1976 to 2010.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in hospitalizations between different industries in the Finnish working-age population between 1976 and 2010.
Methods: Participants (n = 3,769,355) were randomly selected from seven independent consecutive national cohorts in the Statistics Finland population database, each representing a 25% sample of the working-age (18-65-year-old) population. These data were linked with diagnosis-specific records on hospitalizations, drawn from the National Hospital Discharge Registry (mean follow-up time per cohort was 4.1 years) using personal identification numbers.
Results: Sociodemographics-adjusted models showed differences between the proportional hazard ratios of employment industries in all-cause hospitalization. These differences remained fairly stable (hazard ratio [HR], 0.95-1.24) throughout the 35-year period. The differences between industries varied the most in hospitalizations for mental disorders. These differences were substantial during 1976 to 1980 (HR, 1.16-2.29), decreased considerably and remained moderate between 1981 and 2000 (HR, 0.92-1.64), and then increased notably between 2001 and 2010 (HR, 1.09-2.34).
Conclusions: The cause-specific hospitalizations of different employment industries have varied, but the differences in all-cause hospitalizations have remained fairly stable, with the ranking among industries remaining almost the same over the past 35 years.
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