Associations Between Active Commuting and Sickness Absence in Finnish Public Sector Cohort of 28 485 Employees.

Active commuting can be beneficial for health. We examined whether active commuting by walking or cycling was associated with a lower risk of sickness absence in a Finnish public sector cohort of 28 485 employees. We used negative binomial regression to test associations of weekly active commuting in kilometers (no, low, moderate, and high dose) with all-cause sickness absence.

Does job stress mediate the risk of work disability due to common mental disorders among social workers compared with other health and social care, education, and non-human service professionals? A prospective cohort study of public sector employees in Finland.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate (i) the risk of work disability (>10-day sickness absence spell or disability pension) due to common mental disorders (CMD) among social workers compared with other health and social care, education, and non-human service professionals and (ii) whether the risk was mediated by job stress.

Methods: A cohort of 16 306 public sector professionals in Finland was followed using survey data from baseline (2004 or if not available, 2008) on job stress [job strain or effort-reward imbalance (ERI)] and register data on work disability due to CMD from baseline through 2011. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the risk of work disability due to CMD between three occupation-pairs in a counterfactual setting, controlling for age, sex, job contract, body mass index, alcohol risk use, smoking, and physical inactivity.

Changes in active commuting and changes in health: Within- and between-individual analyses among 16 881 Finnish public sector employees.

Background: Active commuting, such as walking or cycling to work, can be beneficial for health. However, because within-individual studies on the association between change in active commuting and change in health are scarce, the previous results may have been biased due to unmeasured confounding. Additionally, prior studies have often lacked information about commuting distance.

Are active school transport and leisure-time physical activity associated with performance and wellbeing at secondary school? A population-based study.

Background: Physically active pupils may be better and more resilient learners. However, it is unclear whether walking or cycling to school yields similar educational and school-related mental health benefits as leisure-time physical activity. We examined the associations of active school transport and leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity with perceived academic performance, competency in academic skills, school burnout and school enjoyment.

Associations between commute mode use and self-rated health and work ability among Finnish public sector employees.

Aim: To determine the extent to which level of active commute mode use is associated with self-rated health and work ability.

Methods: The data were sourced from the Finnish Public Sector Study survey in 2020 ( = 38,223). The associations between active commuting - assessed with the frequency of using active commute modes - and self-rated health and work ability were examined with negative binomial regression analyses.

Associations of leisure-time physical activity and active school transport with mental health outcomes: A population-based study.

Promoting physical activity can improve population health. This study aimed to examine associations of leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and active school transport with mental health, that is, symptoms of depression and anxiety, among 15- to 16-year-old adolescents. We also assessed the relationships with less-studied outcomes, such as chronic stress and visits to school psychologist.

Educational level and the use of mental health services, psychotropic medication and psychotherapy among adults with a history of physician diagnosed mental disorders.

Background: The prevalence of mental disorders is increased among people of low socioeconomic status or educational level, but it remains unclear whether their access to treatment matches their increased need.

Aims: Our objective was to examine whether educational level as an indicator of socioeconomic status is associated with use of mental health services, psychotropic medication and psychotherapy in Finland.

Method: Cross-sectional data from a follow-up survey of a longitudinal, population-based cohort study were used to form a sample of 3,053 men and women aged 24 to 68 with a current or previous physician diagnosed mental disorder.

Daytime fatigue as a predictor for subsequent retirement among older New Zealand workers.

Objectives: There is limited information on the role of fatigue on retirement, either independently or in association with poor sleep. The aim of this study was to examine the prospective association between daytime fatigue, measured as feeling tired or feeling worn out, independently and in relation to dissatisfaction with sleep, and subsequent retirement among 960 older workers in New Zealand.

Methods: Data from 2 consecutive surveys (2008 and 2010) of the New Zealand Health, Work, and Retirement Longitudinal Study were used.

Workplace discrimination as risk factor for long-term sickness absence: Longitudinal analyses of onset and changes in workplace adversity.

Workplace discrimination may affect the health of the exposed employees, but it is not known whether workplace discrimination is also associated with an increased risk of long-term sickness absence. The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal associations of changes in and onset of workplace discrimination with the risk of long-term sickness absence. Data on workplace discrimination were obtained from 29,597 employees participating in survey waves 2004, 2006, 2008 and/or 2010 of the Finnish Public Sector Study.

Association of rotating shift work schedules and the use of prescribed sleep medication: A prospective cohort study.

We examined whether working rotating shifts, with or without night work, is associated with the purchase of prescribed sleep medication, and whether the association is dependent on age. Data were obtained from a longitudinal cohort study of Finnish public sector employees who responded to questions on work schedule and background characteristics in 2000, 2004 and 2008. The data were linked to national register data on redeemed prescriptions of hypnotic and sedative medications, with up to 11 years of follow-up.

Shift work, work time control, and informal caregiving as risk factors for sleep disturbances in an ageing municipal workforce.

Objectives This study aimed to examine the contribution of shift work, work time control (WTC) and informal caregiving, separately and in combination, to sleep disturbances in ageing employees. Methods Survey data were obtained from two prospective cohort studies with repeated measurements of working conditions, informal caregiving, and sleep disturbances. We used fixed-effect conditional logistic regression analysis to examine whether within-individual changes in shift work, WTC and informal caregiving were associated with changes in sleep.

Effect of the frequency spectrum of road traffic noise on sleep: A polysomnographic study.

Spectrum of sound affects noise annoyance. Spectral differences of road traffic noise (RTN) transmitted indoors are usual because of spectrally different sound insulation of facades. The purpose was to compare the effect of RTN spectrum on sleep.

Long working hours and change in body weight: analysis of individual-participant data from 19 cohort studies.

Objective: To examine the relation between long working hours and change in body mass index (BMI).

Methods: We performed random effects meta-analyses using individual-participant data from 19 cohort studies from Europe, US and Australia (n = 122,078), with a mean of 4.4-year follow-up.

The association between vaccination confidence, vaccination behavior, and willingness to recommend vaccines among Finnish healthcare workers.

Information and assurance from healthcare workers (HCWs) is reported by laypeople as a key factor in their decision to get vaccinated. However, previous research has shown that, as in the general population, hesitancy towards vaccines exists among HCWs as well. Previous studies further suggest that HCWs with a higher confidence in vaccinations and vaccine providers are more willing to take the vaccines themselves and to recommend vaccines to patients.

Does removal of work stress explain improved sleep following retirement? The Finnish Retirement and Aging study.

Study Objectives: Relief from work stress has been hypothesized to explain improvements in sleep duration and quality following retirement, but this has not been confirmed with longitudinal studies. By using repeat sleep data, we examined the role of removal of work-related stressors in changes in sleep at retirement.

Methods: The study population consisted of 2,053 participants from the Finnish Retirement and Aging study.

Associations between shift work and use of prescribed medications for the treatment of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia: a prospective cohort study.

Objective This study examined the associations between shift work and use of antihypertensive, lipid-lowering, and antidiabetic medications. Methods Survey data from two cohorts of Finnish men (N=11 998) and women (N=49 944) working in multiple occupations where shift work was used were linked to national Drug Prescription Register data, with up to 11 years of follow-up. In each cohort, age-stratified Cox proportional hazard regression models were computed to examine any incident use of prescription medication for each of the three medical conditions, separately comparing each of two groups of rotating shift workers (those whose schedules included night shifts, and those whose schedules did not include night shifts) with day workers who worked in a similar range of occupations.

Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort study.

Background: Lifestyle factors influence the risk of morbidity and mortality, but the extent to which they are associated with employees' absence from work due to illness is unclear. We examined the relative contributions of smoking, alcohol consumption, high body-mass index, and low physical activity to diagnosis-specific sickness absence.

Methods: We did a multicohort study with individual-level data of participants of four cohorts from the UK, France, and Finland.

Socioeconomic differences in healthy and disease-free life expectancy between ages 50 and 75: a multi-cohort study.

Background: There are striking socioeconomic differences in life expectancy, but less is known about inequalities in healthy life expectancy and disease-free life expectancy. We estimated socioeconomic differences in health expectancies in four studies in England, Finland, France and Sweden.

Methods: We estimated socioeconomic differences in health expectancies using data drawn from repeated waves of the four cohorts for two indicators: (i) self-rated health and (ii) chronic diseases (cardiovascular, cancer, respiratory and diabetes).

Employee control over scheduling of shifts and objectively measured working hour characteristics: a cross-sectional analysis of linked register and survey data.

We aimed to study the association of perceived control over scheduling of shifts with objectively measured working hour characteristics in shift workers. The participants were 5128 hospital employees (91% women, 85% nursing personnel, average age 43 years) in period-based work (114:45h/3 weeks) from the 2015 Finnish Public Sector study. Survey responses to a measure of control over scheduling of shifts were linked to payroll data on working hour characteristics during the 91 days preceding the survey.

Sickness absence diagnoses among abstainers, low-risk drinkers and at-risk drinkers: consideration of the U-shaped association between alcohol use and sickness absence in four cohort studies.

Aims: To estimate differences in the strength and shape of associations between alcohol use and diagnosis-specific sickness absence.

Design: A multi-cohort study. Participants (n = 47 520) responded to a survey on alcohol use at two time-points, and were linked to records of sickness absence.

Clustering of job strain, effort-reward imbalance, and organizational injustice and the risk of work disability: a cohort study.

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine the association between co-occurring work stressors and risk of disability pension. Methods The work stressors job strain, effort-reward imbalance (ERI), and organizational injustice were measured by a survey in 2008 of 41 862 employees linked to national records of all-cause and cause-specific disability pensions until 2011. Co-occurring work stressors were examined as risk factors of work disability using Cox regression marginal models.

Long working hours and depressive symptoms: systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished individual participant data.

Objectives This systematic review and meta-analysis combined published study-level data and unpublished individual-participant data with the aim of quantifying the relation between long working hours and the onset of depressive symptoms. Methods We searched PubMed and Embase for published prospective cohort studies and included available cohorts with unpublished individual-participant data. We used a random-effects meta-analysis to calculate summary estimates across studies.

Changes in Sleep Difficulties During the Transition to Statutory Retirement.

Study Objectives: This study examined changes in sleep during the transition from full-time work to statutory retirement. Both the prevalence of any sleep difficulty and the prevalence of specific sleep difficulties, such as difficulties falling asleep, difficulties maintaining sleep, waking up too early in the morning, and nonrestorative sleep, were examined.

Methods: Data from the Finnish Public Sector study were used.