We studied the developmental trajectories of satisfaction with work-family reconciliation (WFS) and their associations with family-related factors and quality of life measures among municipal employees. The study was based on the Helsinki Health Study of municipal employees of the City of Helsinki in 2001-02 and its follow-up surveys in 2007, 2012, and 2017. Employees aged 40-50 at baseline and working at all timepoints were analysed (n = 1681, 84% women).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: . Decreased work ability due to mental disorders is a growing concern in Europe. We studied the role of work-family conflicts in association with long-term sickness absence due to mental disorders (LTSA-MD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a serious neurodegenerative disease that usually leads to death within a few years from diagnosis. The risk factors for ALS are still largely unknown. However, it is assumed that environmental factors play a role in disease onset.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of flexible work on mental health is not well known. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the effects of employee-oriented flexible work on mental health problems and associated disability. Literature searches were conducted in the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, ProQuest and EconPapers databases from their inception through October-November 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study aimed to examine duration of sickness absence due to knee osteoarthritis (OA) and sustained return to work (RTW) among municipal employees, who had at least one compensated sickness absence period due to knee OA. The contribution of sociodemographic characteristics, diabetes and previous sickness absence were assessed. We differentiated between participants with and without total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe authors wish to make the following correction to this paper [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWork disability may originate early during work history and involve sickness absences (SA) and eventually permanent disability. We studied this process over 15 years. Questionnaire data collected in 1981 on health, working conditions, and lifestyle of Finnish municipal employees aged 44-58 years (n = 6257) were linked with registers on SA (≥10 workdays), disability pension, and death from the period 1986-1995.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To estimate the effects of excess body mass and leisure time physical activity on the incidence and persistence of chronic pain.
Design: A prospective cohort study.
Methods: As a part of the Finnish Helsinki Health Study, we included three cohorts of employees of the City of Helsinki (18,562 observations) and defined incident chronic pain as having pain in any part of the body for more than three months at follow-up in participants without chronic pain at baseline (N = 13,029 observations).
Objectives: We examined developmental trajectories of multisite musculoskeletal pain in midlife, and their associations with mental well-being.
Methods: Midlife municipal employees at baseline aged 40, 45, 50, 55 or 60 years (80% women) from the City of Helsinki, Finland, responded to a baseline questionnaire in 2000-02 (N = 8,960; response rate 67%) and follow-ups in 2007 (N = 7,332; 83%) and 2012 (N = 6,809; 78%). Trajectories of the number of pain sites (0-4) were modelled using latent class growth analysis (n = 6,527).
The contribution of physically demanding work to the developmental trajectories of sickness absence (SA) has seldom been examined. We analyzed the associations of 12 physical work exposures, individually and in combination, with SA trajectories among the occupationally active in the Finnish nationally representative Health 2000 survey. We included 3814 participants aged 30-59 years at baseline, when exposure history to work-related factors was reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We aimed to investigate trajectories of mobility limitations (MLs) over a period of 24 years. In addition, we aimed to study how shift work and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in midlife predict assignment to MLs trajectories separately for those retired on statutory pensions (SPs) and on disability pensions (DPs).
Methods: Subjects who responded MLs questionnaires (1985-2009, N = 3048) in Finnish Longitudinal Study on Aging Municipal Employees were included in this prospective cohort study.
Objectives: We studied the developmental trajectories of multisite musculoskeletal pain (MSP) to learn whether pain in midlife persists to old age, and whether pain trajectories associate with midlife work or lifestyle exposures or retirement from work.
Methods: Municipal employees aged 44-58 years were studied in 1981 (n=6257) with follow-ups in 1985, 1992, 1997 and 2009. Pain in the neck, low back, and upper and lower limbs was assessed in each survey.
Background: Previous studies have not distinguished between different alcohol-use histories, which could have contributed to the current inconsistent evidence regarding the relationship between alcohol use and subsequent sickness absence. We thus examined alcohol use and subsequent diagnosis-specific sickness absence in groups with different levels of alcohol use, as well as in lifelong abstainers, former drinkers, and people with clinical alcohol use disorders.
Methods: The data of the population-based Health 2000 Survey (BRIF8901) of 3666 Finns aged 30-55 were linked with national registers on medically certified sickness absences lasting for > 10 working days (long-term) for all causes (2000 - 2010) and for mental or musculoskeletal disorders (2004-2010), as well as with registers on pensions and death (2000-2010).
Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease afflicting people in the Western world and has a strong genetic influence. The aim of this study was to examine the association of two known functional polymorphisms in the TGF-β inhibiting genes, asporin (ASPN) and cartilage intermediate layer protein (CILP), with hand OA and potential gene-occupational hand loading interaction.
Results: Statistically significant interaction of the CILP rs2073711 T and ASPN D15 alleles with hand OA was observed (OR = 2.
We investigated how work-related biomechanical exposure and job strain in midlife separately and jointly predicted back and degenerative musculoskeletal diseases (MSDs). A total of 6,257 employees participated in the Finnish Longitudinal Study on Aging Municipal Employees (FLAME) in 1981 and were followed up for 28 years. Risk ratios and the relative excessive risk due to interaction and 95% confidence intervals were modeled for separate and joint prediction estimates, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScand J Work Environ Health
January 2018
Objective This study aimed to develop and validate a risk screening tool using a points system to assess the risk of future disability retirement due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). Methods The development population, the Health 2000 Survey, consisted of a nationally representative sample of Finnish employees aged 30-60 years (N=3676) and the validation population, the Helsinki Health Study, consisted of employees of the City of Helsinki aged 40-60 years (N=6391). Both surveys were linked to data on disability retirement awards due to MSD from national register for an 11-year follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDepression and musculoskeletal pain are associated, but long-term follow-up studies are rare. We aimed to examine the relationship of early depressive symptoms with developmental patterns of musculoskeletal pain from adolescence to middle age. Adolescents ending compulsory school (age 16) in Luleå, Northern Sweden, in 1981 (n = 1083) were studied and followed up in 1986, 1995, and 2008 (age 43) for musculoskeletal pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Available evidence suggests that genetic factors and overweight play major roles in the aetiology of osteoarthritis (OA). We analysed the association of 18 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from nine adipokine and adipokine receptor genes (LEP, LEPR, ADIPOQ, RETN, NAMPT, SERPINA12, ITLN1, RARRES2, and APLN) with radiographic hand OA.
Method: The study design was cross-sectional.
Objectives We investigated whether the extent of biomechanical exposures and job strain in midlife separately and jointly predict disability in old age. Methods Participants of the Finnish Longitudinal Study on Aging Municipal Employees (FLAME) in 1981 (aged 44-58 years) responded to disability questionnaires in 2009 (1850 women and 1082 men). Difficulties in performing five activities of daily living (ADL) and seven instrumental ADL (IADL) were used to assess severity of disability (score range: 0-12, 0=no disability).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Functional somatic symptoms (FSS), or symptoms without a clear medical explanation are a considerable challenge for health care systems. There is no general consensus as to which symptoms should be regarded functional. Few longitudinal studies on the development of FSS exist and these have mainly been based on the assumption that the factorial structure of a FSS scores variable remains invariant over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Although several studies have shown that adolescent musculoskeletal pain is associated with psychological problems in a cross-sectional setting, the associations of long-term musculoskeletal pain with psychological distress and anxiety are not known.
Methods: The study included 1773 adolescents belonging to the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. They received a postal questionnaire at the age of 16years and a follow-up questionnaire two years later.
Objective: To investigate the developmental pathways of multisite musculoskeletal pain (MSP) and the effect of physical and psychosocial working conditions on the development of MSP trajectories.
Methods: The study was conducted among food industry workers (N=868) using a longitudinal design. Surveys were conducted every 2 years from 2003 to 2009.
Objectives: We analyzed the work ability index (WAI) and its first item (work ability score, WAS) - and subsequent four-year changes thereof - as predictors of disability pension (DP).
Methods: We linked survey responses of 5251 Finnish municipal employees, aged 44-58 years, to pension and death register data until 2009. Job content (physical, mental, or mixed) was based on observation.
We identified factors protective of all-cause sickness absence (SA) among subjects with multisite musculoskeletal pain (MSP). The nationally representative source sample comprised 3420 actively working Finns aged 30 to 55 in year 2000 and alive at follow-up. Pain in 18 body locations was combined into four sites (neck, low back, upper limbs, and lower limbs).
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