Loss of healthy life years between ages 50-75 years attributed to job strain : analyses of 64,533 individuals from four prospective European cohort studies

Introduction: Poor working conditions potentially limit quality of life and the possibilities for individuals to remain in paid employment because of poor health. However, no studies so far have investigated how psychosocial working conditions might impact on how long older workers can expect to stay healthy. This study examines whether job strain in older workers is associated with healthy life expectancy (HLE). Methods: We used repeated measures data for 64,533 individuals from four cohort studies: Whitehall II (UK), Finnish Public Sector Study (Finland), GAZEL (France), and Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (Sweden). Job strain at baseline and two different measures of HLE were computed based on self-rated health and chronic health conditions. Multistate life table models were used to estimate partial life expectancy (LE) and HLE from ages 50 to 75 by job strain, cohort, occupational position and sex. Results: Job strain was consistently related to shorter HLE, but not total LE. Particularly men in lower occupational positions with job strain had shorter HLE. The HLE in good self-rated health was 2–3 years shorter in this group. The corresponding HLE based on chronic disease was almost 2 years shorter although the relation was less pronounced for GAZEL. Women with job strain in lower occupational positions also lived 1–2 fewer years in good health. Conclusions: The results indicate that job strain affects how long people remain healthy, and that interventions to prevent high job strain in older workers might enable people to work for longer in good health.