Worklife Expectancy Research Articles

Disparities in healthy working life expectancy in different Chinese populations.

Disparities in healthy working life expectancy in different Chinese populations.

Qualitative Exploration of the "Guilt Gap" Among Physician-Faculty with Caregiving Responsibilities.

Introduction: Differences in time commitments and resources contribute to the difficulties of work-life integration for many physician-scientists, particularly for women with family caregiving responsibilities. Understanding the challenges faced by this population is critical for the retention of these critical members of the workforce. Methods: We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with recipients of the 2017 Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's Fund to Retain Clinical Scientists (FRCS) and reviewed application narratives from the 2020 award recipients. Award recipients were asked about their caregiving responsibilities and careers, particularly as they related to the impact of the FRCS award and the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysts then iteratively revised the coding scheme and interpreted the data using qualitative thematic analysis. Results: Of the 14 interviewees and 19 narrative contributors, 25 (76%) were women. The main qualitative themes that emerged were as follows: (1) women experience unrealistically high caregiving burdens, (2) women are overburdened by disadvantageous and undervalued expectations at work, (3) work-life expectations increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (4) unrealistic work-life expectations led to guilt and burnout. Conclusions: These findings provide a rich understanding of the factors contributing to guilt and burnout among physician-scientists, particularly women, and how work duties that increase physician obligations exacerbated these challenges. Understanding these experiences is critical to supporting and retaining a diverse workforce in academic medicine.

Trends and Regional Disparities in Working Life Expectancy Among the Older Population in Rural China from 2010 to 2020

Trends and Regional Disparities in Working Life Expectancy Among the Older Population in Rural China from 2010 to 2020

Determinants and inequities in healthy working life expectancy in China.

Many countries are raising the pension age to mitigate the challenges of population aging, but such a solution may ignore the disparities in health and working conditions across populations. Using large-scale longitudinal data from China, this study provides estimates of healthy working life expectancy (HWLE), defined as the average number of years expected to be spent healthy and in work from age 50 years, and highlights substantial inequities in HWLE by gender, socioeconomic status and geographical region. The HWLE from age 50 years was, on average, 6.87 (95% confidence interval: 6.70 to 7.04) years in China. Hypertension was the leading chronic condition for people working unhealthily (5.67 years for men and 4.85 years for women), and arthritis contributed the largest differences in unhealthy working years across people by occupation (agricultural laborer versus enterprise employee, 3.28 years). Moreover, adopting healthy lifestyles was associated with gains in HWLE (2.13 years for men and 1.61 years for women). Our findings suggest that increasing the pension age through a 'one-size-fits-all' approach may not effectively meet the goal of extending working lives. Inclusive initiatives aimed at targeted populations to promote health or work conditions and to facilitate the pension system will be essential to improve HWLE by reducing inequities.

The tasks of stabilizing existing pension systems and the main vectors of reforms in the practice of foreign countries

The article analyzes some common approaches to reforming pension systems for different states, focused mainly on improving their financial and social stability in the medium term. The main focus is on the issues of increasing the working life expectancy of the working part of the population by increasing the retirement age and limiting the possibility of early retirement for certain categories of employees and the introduction of private saving programs of various types to solve the problem of reducing the financial burden on the state and increasing the responsibility of citizens for their financial well-being in retirement. Various forms and models of organization of private pension plans are considered, depending largely on the structure of the labor market and national traditions, their advantages and disadvantages.

A Survival Model of Work Life Expectancy After Spinal Cord Injury: Relationships With Race/Ethnicity, Education, Injury, and Aging Factors

A Survival Model of Work Life Expectancy After Spinal Cord Injury: Relationships With Race/Ethnicity, Education, Injury, and Aging Factors

Биоактивные вещества геропротекторной направленности

People are constantly exposed to adverse environmental factors that affect their health. If combined with hereditary predisposition, they may lead to gerontological changes that reduce healthy and working life expectancy. Some measures can prevent premature aging, e.g., a balanced diet or biologically active anti-aging substances also called geroprotectors. This article reviews biologically active geroprotectors with a view to select promising components for novel biologically active additives and functional foods. The review covered five years of Russian research articles and patents on biologically active anti-aging agents indexed in the National Center for Biotechnology Information, ScienceDirect, eLIBRARY.RU, and the database of the Federal Institute of Industrial Property. The domestic market demonstrates a growing demand for biologically active supplements: in 2023, it increased by 10% in value terms as consumers’ interest in a healthy and long life continues to grow. The review also included quality criteria for biologically active anti-ageing agents, e.g., such plant metabolites as vitamins, polyphenols, antioxidants, adaptogens, peptides, etc. Thymalin, epithalamin, dasatinib, and epithalon are available on the domestic market. The list of potential anti-aging agents includes ethylamine, carnosine, glutathione, ubiquinone, curcumin, rutin, quercetin, resveratrol, senolytics, and sirutins. These biologically active substances prevent oxidative stress, accumulation of lipofuscin, and senescent cells. The most effective anti-aging agents come from Vitis amurensis, Rhodiola rosea, Schisandra chinensis, Galega officinalis, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Withania somnifera, and Panax ginseng.

P-005 SOCIOECONOMIC DIFFERENCES IN WORKING LIFE EXPECTANCY: A SCOPING REVIEW

P-005 SOCIOECONOMIC DIFFERENCES IN WORKING LIFE EXPECTANCY: A SCOPING REVIEW

Trends in severe functional limitations among working and non-working adults in Germany: Towards an (un)-healthy working life?

We examined trends in severe functional limitations among working and non-working adults in Germany (ages 40–65). Four population-based samples of 11,615 participants were used, spanning the time periods 2002–2021. The overall prevalence of severe limitations was found to be 12.8% in the sample, but also varied from 10 to 20% according to occupational group. Over time, severe limitations were found to have increased, from 10.6% in 2002 to 13.2% in 2021. Logistic regression analysis showed that severe limitations increased significantly in certain subgroups, including working women with a low skilled white collar occupational group, working men with a low skilled blue collar occupational group and, particularly, among the whole non-working population, whereas limitations remained largely the same in the other groups, including most of the working population. In terms of expectancies, overall working life expectancy increased. Along with this increase, healthy (non-severely limited) working life expectancy increased, but this trend was accompanied by a clear increase in unhealthy working life expectancy (severely limited). Thus, although severe limitations have increased in some groups in the working-age adults, people today can expect to work more years free from severe limitations than before. In the future, potentials to increase working life expectancy may come to an end, as severe limitations increased strongly in the non-working population, which could limit the prospects for a further increase in the proportion of the population in employment. Further studies are needed to investigate the potential impact of the increasing prevalence of severe limitations on the population’s ability to work.

The development of working life expectancy without musculoskeletal diseases against the backdrop of extended working lives

Musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs) are a major predictor of early retirement. Against the backdrop of the extension of working life, we investigated time trends and educational inequalities in years spent in the labour market free of MSD. Based on German statutory health insurance data (N = 3,405,673), total life years free of MSD (Healthy Life Expectancy, HLE) and years spent in the labour force free of MSD (Healthy Working Life Expectancy, HWLE) were estimated for three periods (2006–2008, 2011–2013, 2016–2018) using multistate analyses. Educational inequalities (8 to 11 vs. 12 or more years of schooling) are reported for 2011–2013. HLE decreased slightly over time in all genders. HWLE in women increased, while it remained rather constant in men. Over time, the share of years in the labour force spent free of MSD declined continuously. People with lower education had lower HLE and HWLE than individuals with higher education. With respect to musculoskeletal diseases, the increase in disease-free working life years cannot keep pace with the extension of working life, resulting in an increasing proportion of years spent in impaired musculoskeletal health in the labour market. Effective prevention strategies are needed, focusing especially on individuals with lower educational attainment.

Surgical critical care: Is work–life expectancy increasing? An analysis of American Board of Surgery recertification rates across subspecialties

The practice of surgical critical care (SCC) has traditionally necessitated additional in-house, extended night and weekend clinical commitments, which can be viewed as less desirable for many surgeons. Therefore, the...

Demographic, health, physical activity, and workplace factors are associated with lower healthy working life expectancy and life expectancy at age 50

Although retirement ages are rising in the United Kingdom and other countries, the average number of years people in England can expect to spend both healthy and work from age 50 (Healthy Working Life Expectancy; HWLE) is less than the number of years to the State Pension age. This study aimed to estimate HWLE with the presence and absence of selected health, socio-demographic, physical activity, and workplace factors relevant to stakeholders focusing on improving work participation. Data from 11,540 adults in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing were analysed using a continuous time 3-state multi-state model. Age-adjusted hazard rate ratios (aHRR) were estimated for transitions between health and work states associated with individual and combinations of health, socio-demographic, and workplace factors. HWLE from age 50 was 3.3 years fewer on average for people with pain interference (6.54 years with 95% confidence interval [6.07, 7.01]) compared to those without (9.79 [9.50, 10.08]). Osteoarthritis and mental health problems were associated with 2.2 and 2.9 fewer healthy working years respectively (HWLE for people without osteoarthritis: 9.50 years [9.22, 9.79]; HWLE with osteoarthritis: 7.29 years [6.20, 8.39]; HWLE without mental health problems: 9.76 years [9.48, 10.05]; HWLE with mental health problems: 6.87 years [1.58, 12.15]). Obesity and physical inactivity were associated with 0.9 and 2.0 fewer healthy working years respectively (HWLE without obesity: 9.31 years [9.01, 9.62]; HWLE with obesity: 8.44 years [8.02, 8.86]; HWLE without physical inactivity: 9.62 years [9.32, 9.91]; HWLE with physical inactivity: 7.67 years [7.23, 8.12]). Workers without autonomy at work or with inadequate support at work were expected to lose 1.8 and 1.7 years respectively in work with good health from age 50 (HWLE for workers with autonomy: 9.50 years [9.20, 9.79]; HWLE for workers lacking autonomy: 7.67 years [7.22, 8.12]; HWLE for workers with support: 9.52 years [9.22, 9.82]; HWLE for workers with inadequate support: 7.86 years [7.22, 8.12]). This study identified demographic, health, physical activity, and workplace factors associated with lower HWLE and life expectancy at age 50. Identifying the extent of the impact on healthy working life highlights these factors as targets and the potential to mitigate against premature work exit is encouraging to policy-makers seeking to extend working life as well as people with musculoskeletal and mental health conditions and their employers. The HWLE gaps suggest that interventions are needed to promote the health, wellbeing and work outcomes of subpopulations with long-term health conditions.

Socioeconomic differences in working life expectancy: a scoping review

BackgroundIn the last decade, interest in working life expectancy (WLE) and socioeconomic differences in WLE has grown considerably. However, a comprehensive overview of the socioeconomic differences in WLE is lacking. The aim of this review is to systematically map the research literature to improve the insight on differences in WLE and healthy WLE (HWLE) by education, occupational class and income while using different ways of measuring and estimating WLE and to define future research needs.MethodsA systematic search was carried out in Web of Science, PubMed and EMBASE and complemented by relevant publications derived through screening of reference lists of the identified publications and expert knowledge. Reports on differences in WLE or HWLE by education, occupational class or income, published until November 2022, were included. Information on socioeconomic differences in WLE and HWLE was synthesized in absolute and relative terms.ResultsA total of 26 reports from 21 studies on educational and occupational class differences in WLE or HWLE were included. No reports on income differences were found. On average, WLE in persons with low education is 30% (men) and 27% (women) shorter than in those with high education. The corresponding numbers for occupational class difference were 21% (men) and 27% (women). Low-educated persons were expected to lose more working years due to unemployment and disability retirement than high-educated persons.ConclusionsThe identified socioeconomic inequalities are highly relevant for policy makers and pose serious challenges for equitable pension policies. Many policy interventions aimed at increasing the length of working life follow a one-size-fits-all approach which does not take these inequalities into account. More research is needed on socioeconomic differences in HWLE and potential influences of income on working life duration.

Healthy enough to work up to age 67 and beyond? A longitudinal population-based study on time trends in working life expectancy free of cardiovascular diseases based on German health insurance data

BackgroundDue to the rising life expectancy in Western countries, the discussion about the increase in the retirement age is becoming more important. However, the prolongation of working lives cannot be...

Design of a prognostic model for assessing the risk of developing asbestosis based on the results of molecular genetic studies

Introduction. Preventive measures, including the development of a system for diagnosing early signs of changes in the health status of employees and predicting individual risks of developing the disease, aimed at preserving labor resources, reducing disability and extending working life expectancy, are an absolute priority in the field of occupational safety.
 The aim of the study to develop a prognostic model of the risk of developing asbestosis based on molecular genetic studies in employees of enterprises for the extraction and enrichment of chrysotile asbestos.
 Materials and methods. Based on studies previously conducted in the Laboratory of Biomedical Research at the Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health, scientists have identified a set of informative and significant single-nucleotide polymorphic gene variants for use as predictors in the construction of a prognostic model in the development of asbestos in workers of enterprises for the extraction and enrichment of chrysotile asbestos. We examined 136 people who worked at the enterprise for the extraction and enrichment of chrysotile asbestos. The researchers formed two groups comparable in terms of work experience, dustiness, age and gender: 68 former employees of the main production specialties with an established diagnosis of asbestos and 68 workers without bronchopulmonary pathology.
 The authors calculated the exposure dose of chrysotile-containing dust and calculated it taking into account the percentage of time spent at the workplace, and also performed a molecular genetic study of single-nucleotide polymorphic variants of the genes IL-1β rs16944, IL-4 rs2243250, TGF-β1 rs1800471, SOD-2 rs4880 and MMP-9 rs17576.
 Results. A predictive model has been developed to determine the probability of developing asbestosis in workers of an enterprise for the extraction and enrichment of chrysotile asbestos based on the determination of single nucleotide polymorphisms IL-1β rs16944, SOD-2 rs4880 and MMP-9 rs17576. The results of genetic tests are entered into the formula and if the resulting probability of developing asbestosis is equal to or higher than the threshold (0.582), the employee is included in the high-risk group. The sensitivity and specificity of the developed model were 70.1% and 70.6%, respectively.
 Conclusion. Molecular genetic indicators can act as predictors in the development of asbestosis in workers of the chrysotile extraction and enrichment industry and can be used to form high-risk groups during preventive measures.
 Ethics. The study was conducted in compliance with ethical standards that guarantee respect for all research subjects and the protection of their health and rights in accordance with the requirements of the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association. All persons included in the study gave informed voluntary consent to the examination in accordance with Federal Law No. 323-FZ dated 11/21/2011 "On the Basics of Public Health Protection in the Russian Federation". The study was approved by the conclusion of the local Ethics committee of Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health (minutes of the meeting of the Ethics committee of Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health No. 9 dated 11/29/2016).

ESTIMATION OF WORKING LIFE EXPECTANCY: APPLICATION OF A MULTISTATE MARKOV MODEL

Abstract Longer life expectancy in Western countries has led to concerns about sustainable workforces amid the rising costs of securing aging populations. Retirement age is no more a good indicator of the end of the working life, because many older workers move in-and-out of workforce. A more useful measure is working life expectancy (WLE), which is the expected number of remaining years from a given age that a person will work. This measure considers transitions across different employment states. The method adopted for estimation of WLE is along the same line to estimate health expectancy (HE) based on cross-sectional data without considering transitions in different states of work over time. A better approach is based on multi-state survival models considering transitions among states over time using longitudinal data. These models assume a Markov Process to estimate transition probabilities. WLE is the weighted sum of duration of stay in a state weighted by the transition probabilities. The method adopted in IDEAR consortium is a multistate survival model assuming a first-order Markov process in continuous time to estimate transition probabilities. Transition probabilities are estimated by the msm package. This model takes care of interval censoring where the exact dates of transitions from one state to another is not known. WLEs are estimated by using the package elect (van den Hout, 2019) incorporating age as a time dependent variable by using a Gompertz model instead of the exponential model. The method is demonstrated to estimate WLE using Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH).

WHO WORKS LONGER IN LATER LIFE? KEY VARIATIONS IN WORKING LIFE EXPECTANCY IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract In the context of population aging, policymakers are eager to encourage and enable longer working lives, assuming this will lead to increased tax revenue and reduced demand on social security and health care systems. Simultaneously, individuals who work longer will gain additional income and may experience the psychosocial benefits that come from workplace engagement. However, many factors drive early labor market exit, and blanket policy strategies to extend working lives often ignore the nuances that shape the length of real working lives. Such policies have emerged partly from increased life expectancies, although these measures fail to capture subgroup differences in the capacity to continue working. They also do not account for often discontinuous labor market trajectories, particularly around retirement. As such, scholars have turned to more refined methodologies and concepts like working life expectancy (WLE) to better inform policies that actively aim to increase retirement ages. This symposium highlights an ongoing program of work by the IDEAR network, which examines WLE using longitudinal studies of aging in Europe. The symposium features results from Sweden and England, estimating WLE using multi-state models. Unlike other approaches to estimate life expectancy employing the Sullivan method, this approach allows for reversible transitions between work and non-work, reflecting the dynamic and complex nature of modern labor market transitions and exits. The symposium further presents how WLE varies according to key determinants, including socioeconomic status, healthy lifestyles, and unpaid caregiving, highlighting the policy implications that emerge from recognizing inequalities and variations in WLE across vulnerable subgroups.

WORKING LIFE EXPECTANCY AND UNPAID CAREGIVING: HOW WORKING LIVES DIFFER ACROSS CAREGIVER GROUPS

Abstract Informal or unpaid caregiving (i.e. unpaid and untrained help and support to an ill relative or acquaintance) is becoming more prevalent as a result of population ageing and policies promoting ageing in place. Informal or unpaid caregiving is most common in mid-to-later life and can generate conflict with individuals’ participation in paid work at a time when working lives are being extended in several countries. Few studies have examined the impact of unpaid caregiving on working life as a whole. The current study examines how unpaid caregiving affects working life expectancy (WLE) among people aged 50 or older. Measuring paid work through WLE allows engagement in paid work in later life to be examined accounting for the fact that retirement transitions have become more complex due to the diversity of retirement pathways (e.g. un-retirement, phased retirement). Furthermore, using longitudinal data to measure WLE in the context of unpaid caregiving over several years enables us to differentiate among frequent caregivers and sporadic spells of caregiving. Data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Swedish Longitudinal Occupation Survey of Health (SLOSH) were used to evaluate how WLEs are affected among individuals who provided unpaid care. We highlight the impact of different trajectories in unpaid caregiving on WLE, distinguishing caregivers according to intensity (hours and frequency per week) as well as provision of care over time.

BEHAVIOR-RELATED RISK FACTORS AND WORKING LIFE EXPECTANCY IN ENGLAND

Abstract Over the past decades, the UK has introduced pension and labour market reforms that aimed at increasing the length of working life among the older working population. Behaviour-related risk factors such as low physical activity level, alcohol consumption, smoking as well as obesity are associated with labour market participation and early retirement. However, the extent to which the co-occurrence of these behaviour-related risk factors predict how long people stay in employment (working life expectancy) has not yet been investigated. We used a large nationally representative sample of older people in England participants of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), from 2002 to 2018. We applied multistate life table models to repeated measures to estimate sex-specific working life expectancy from the age of 50. We considered the following behaviours: smoking, daily alcohol consumption, being physically inactive and being obese. At the age of 50, men with no behaviour-related risk factors could expect to work on average 11 years (95%CI:10.96; 11.44) longer (9 for women, 95%CI:8.98;9.44), whereas men with 2+ behaviour-related risk factors could expect to work on average 9.2 additional years (95%CI:9.19; 9.85) (7.4 for women, 95%CI:7.3; 7.8). Men and women engaging in one behaviour-related risk factor had slightly higher lower working life expectancy than those not engaging in any behaviour-related risk factors.

SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND WORKING LIFE EXPECTANCY IN SWEDEN

Abstract Longer life expectancy and fertility decline have increased concerns about the security of old-age pensions. Raising retirement ages is one strategy to offset rising costs, though the option to retire varies considerably by socioeconomic status (SES) and sex. The level of variation in SES may depend the measure used. Also, many workers now transition into retirement slowly, e.g., move from full- to part-time work. Thus, retirement age may not sufficiently capture how long people work. Working life expectancy (WLE)—the expected average number of years worked—better measures total working life. We use data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) from 2008 to 2020 (n=4,940 people age 50+ and n=74,093 person-observations) to examine WLE by SES. We estimate a three-state multistate model (i.e., working, not working, dead) and a four-state model (working part-time, working full-time, not working, and dead); both assume a continuous-time first-order Markov process. Models are sex-stratified models, cross-classified by: 1) occupation; 2) education; 3) income. We find that professionals work full-time 1 year more than routine workers, regardless of sex. The low educated work full-time 1 year less than the highly educated. In our weighted three-state model, where part-time work contributed ½ of full-time work, the difference increased to 1.14 and 1.05 years, respectively. Our unweighted three-state model showed slightly larger education differences. Findings suggest that WLE differs by SES, regardless of sex, and the differences are greater by education than occupation. This has implications for extending working life policies.