1175Work stress and loss of years lived without chronic disease; an 18-year prospective cohort study

Abstract

Abstract Background Aim: To examine the association of work stress with future chronic disease incidence and loss of chronic disease-free life years in the Danish workforce. Method A population-based prospective register-based cohort study of all employees aged 30-59 in 2000 in Denmark, without chronic diseases at baseline (n = 1,592,491). Using job exposure matrices, we assessed exposure to work stress by a combined measure of job strain and effort-reward imbalance. We estimated the risk of incident hospital-diagnosed chronic disease or death (i.e., type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure, and dementia) during 18 years of follow-up and corresponding chronic disease-free life expectancy. Results Individuals working in occupations with high risk of both job strain and effort-reward imbalance had a slightly higher risk of future incident chronic disease compared to those in occupations with low risk of both stressors. The hazard ratio was 1.04 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.05) in women and 1.12 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.14) in men. The corresponding loss in chronic disease-free life expectancy was 0.25 years in women and 0.84 years in men. Conclusion Working in occupations with a high risk of work stress was associated with a small loss of years lived without chronic disease compared to working in occupations with low risk of work stress. Key messages According to our findings, employees in occupations with high risk of work stress live slightly shorter lives free of chronic diseases compared to employees in occupations with low risk of work stress.