Occupational differences in disability retirement due to a shoulder lesion: do work-related factors matter?

Maria Sirén,Jari Arokoski,Svetlana Solovieva,Eira Viikari-Juntura

doi:10.1007/s00420-020-01549-y

Abstract

ObjectiveTo identify occupations with a high risk of disability retirement due to a shoulder lesion and to examine the effect of physical and psychosocial work-related factors on occupational differences in disability retirement.MethodsWe followed Finnish wage earners aged 30–59 years (n = 1,135,654) from 2005 to 2014 for full disability retirement due to a shoulder lesion. The work-related exposures were assessed with job exposure matrices. We calculated age-adjusted incidence rates and hazard ratios to test for the association between occupation and disability retirement due to a shoulder lesion. We also examined the contribution of work-related exposures to the excess risk of disability retirement.ResultsAs compared to professionals, the age-adjusted risk of disability retirement was increased among men in all occupational groups except managers and customer service clerks and among women in several occupational groups. Adjustment for education attenuated the occupational differences considerably, particularly among women. The physical work-related factors fully explained the excess risk of disability retirement due to a shoulder lesion among male finance and sales associate professionals and administrative secretaries as well as among agricultural and fishery workers. In women, the physical work-related factors fully explained the excess risk among construction workers, electricians and plumbers. For both genders, the contribution of psychosocial factors to excess risk of disability retirement was modest and seen for monotonous work only.ConclusionsA reduction of the level of physical work load factors as well as monotonousness of work has a potential to prevent work disability due to a shoulder lesion.

Highlights

Population aging is becoming critical over the decades (World Report on Aging and Heath 2015), especially in the developed countries, challenging sustainable economy
To quantify the contribution of physical and psychosocial work-related factors to the occupational differences in disability retirement due to a shoulder lesion, we examined, whether the effect of occupation on disability retirement is mediated by those factors
The overall age-adjusted IR of full disability retirement due to a shoulder lesion was higher for men than women, with 36 and 28 per 100,000 person years, respectively (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Population aging is becoming critical over the decades (World Report on Aging and Heath 2015), especially in the developed countries, challenging sustainable economy. An increased risk of specific shoulder diseases has been found in certain occupational groups, including painters (Loew et al 2019), farmers, forest workers, construction workers (Rolf et al 2006), nurses (Chung et al 2013) and meat-processing workers (Frost and Andersen 1999). These studies have linked the increased risk of shoulder diseases to several exposures. Systematic reviews have provided moderate evidence for the association between shoulder diseases and physical work-related factors (especially arm elevation and shoulder load) and weak evidence for psychosocial work-related factors (van der Molen et al 2017; van Rijn et al 2010)

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Discussion

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