Publications by authors named "Vahtera J"

Social disadvantage, like advanced age, is a risk factor for a broad range of health conditions; however, whether it influences the aging process remains unclear. Here, using a multicohort approach, we investigated the associations of social disadvantage with age-related plasma proteins and age-related diseases. We found proteomic signatures of accelerated immune aging and 14 specific age-related proteins linked to social disadvantage during both early and later life.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS) reduces the risk of new-onset hypertension; however, it is unclear whether this effect varies according to patient sex, age, or socioeconomic background. This study aimed to assess the risk of new-onset arterial hypertension after MBS, with a special focus on these patient characteristics.

Methods: This follow-up study with matched controls was nested in a large employee cohort, the Finnish Public Sector study, consisting of individuals with no hypertension at baseline.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Socioeconomic disadvantage at individual level is associated with poor cognitive outcomes but the link of neighbourhood disadvantage with cognitive function is unclear. We used data from Young Finns Study, a population-based cohort, to examine the associations of neighbourhood and individual-level disadvantage in childhood (age 3-21 years) and adulthood (age 22 up to the time of cognitive assessment) with cognitive function in mid-adulthood (age 35-49 years). Neighbourhood disadvantage was ascertained based on register data, including geo-coded address history.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Low physical activity, high sedentary time (SED), and inadequate sleep increase cardiovascular disease risk, but the codependency between these 24-h movement behaviors has often been neglected. This study examined associations between 24-h movement behaviors and incidence of cardiovascular risk factors. The study included 866 adults (mean age 62.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In Northern latitudes, winter is the darkest time of the year, and depressive episodes during winter are prevalent. Although changing weather patterns due to climate change are projected to result in warmer and wetter and, thus, even darker winters, research on the impact of winter-time natural light and precipitation on mental health is scarce. We examined associations of exposure to solar radiation and precipitation with psychotropic medication and antidepressant purchases in winter months.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Regular physical activity is recommended for all aged 5 years and older, but the health benefits gained might differ across population subgroups. The aim of this study was to examine these benefits in terms of years lived free from major non-communicable diseases in subgroups with varying levels of risk factors.

Methods: Our analysis was based on a multicohort study of initially healthy European adults from the IPD-Work Consortium and initially healthy participants from the UK Biobank study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic was a significant health risk and resulted in increased sickness absence during the pandemic. This study examines whether a history of COVID-19 infection is associated with a higher risk of subsequent sickness absence.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 32,124 public sector employees responded to a survey on COVID-19 infection and lifestyle factors in 2020 and were linked to sickness absence records before (2019) and after (2021-2022) the survey.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: We examined the relationships between psychosocial factors and employee well-being in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Survey data were from Finnish public sector employees from 2018 (T1 = before), 2020 (T2 = during), and 2022 (T3 = after the pandemic) (N= 29,360). Employee well-being was measured with self-rated health, work ability, and recovery from work.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Wheezing illnesses, especially those triggered by rhinovirus infection, cause a major disease burden, and they often precede asthma. Environmental exposures are known to affect recurrence of wheezing. We investigated the relations of population density, greenness (forested areas), and socioeconomic factors of the living surroundings to the burden of asthma in children with prior bronchiolitis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: To identify trajectories of work ability from pre-COVID to post-COVID-19 pandemic period and to examine work unit characteristics associated with these trajectories.

Methods: The study population was a cohort of Finnish public sector employees (n=54 651) followed from 2016 until 2022. We used trajectory analysis to identify trajectories of work ability and multinomial regression to examine their associations with prepandemic work unit characteristics and pandemic-related changes at workplaces.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Early life microbial exposure influences the composition of gut microbiota. We investigated how early life factors, and the green living environment around infants' homes, influence the development of gut microbiota during infancy by utilizing data from the Steps to Healthy Development follow-up study (the STEPS study).

Methods: The gut microbiota was analyzed at early (∼3 months, n = 959), and late infancy (∼13 months, n = 984) using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, and combined with residential green environment, measured as (1) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, (2) Vegetation Cover Diversity, and (3) Naturalness Index within a 750 m radius.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Green spaces may serve as population level interventions encouraging active travel. We examined the associations between exposure to useable green space (CORINE Land Cover categories) and physical activity during active travel (GPS and accelerometer) among late middle-aged participants from the Finnish Retirement and Aging study (n = 102). Greater proportion of useable green space was associated with higher physical activity during active travel on days off (+11 min/day per 1 SD increase in exposure) and on retirement days (+12 min/day), but not on workdays.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In many workplaces, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic changed work arrangements, but there is scarce longitudinal evidence on whether psychosocial work environment and employee well-being were affected.

Aims: To examine the psychosocial work environment and employee well-being before, during and after the pandemic in relation to pandemic-induced changes (working from home, change to other tasks and team reorganization).

Methods: Survey data from a cohort of 20 944 public sector employees in Finland were collected before (2016-2018), during (2020) and after the pandemic (2022).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Stimulating activities are associated with a decreased risk of dementia. However, the extent to which this reflects a protective effect of activity or non-participation resulting from dementia is debated. We investigated the association of stimulating leisure-time activity in late adulthood with the risk of dementia across up to two decades' follow-up.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Ageing hallmarks, characterising features of cellular ageing, have a role in the pathophysiology of many age-related diseases. We examined whether obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing such hallmark-related diseases.

Methods: In this multicohort study, we included people aged 38-72 years with data on weight, height, and waist circumference measured during a clinical examination at baseline between March 13, 2006, and Oct 1, 2010, from the UK Biobank with follow-up until Nov 12, 2021.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the association between neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and teaching staff's risk of workplace violence and whether workplace psychosocial resources can act as effect modifiers.

Methods: Primary school teaching staff in the six largest cities in Finland responded to a survey in 2018 and were linked to information on school neighbourhood disadvantage obtained from the national grid database ( = 3984).

Results: After adjustment for confounders, staff working in schools located in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods had a 1.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Leisure-time physical activity (PA) has been hypothesized to reduce the likelihood of occupational injuries, but it is unclear whether this association varies between workplace and commuting injuries. The aim of this study was to examine the association between PA and risk of workplace and commuting injuries.

Methods: Data were derived from the Finnish Public Sector study including 82 716 person-observations (48 116 participants).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Metabolic bariatric surgery the reduces risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes in individuals with obesity, but it is unclear whether the benefit varies by sex, age, or socioeconomic status. The aim was to assess the risk of new-onset type 2 diabetes after metabolic bariatric surgery in these subgroups.

Methods: The Finnish Public Sector study, a follow-up study with matched controls nested in a large employee cohort, included patients without type 2 diabetes and with a diagnosis of obesity or self-reported BMI of at least 35 kg/m2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Retirement reduces sleep problems, but changes in life satisfaction during the retirement transition are multifactorial and partly unknown. The aim of this prospective cohort study was to examine whether changes in sleep problems are associated with changes in total and domain-specific life satisfaction during the retirement transition (on average 0.5 years before and 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: To investigate if the Jenkins Sleep Scale (JSS) demonstrates sex-related differential item functioning (DIF).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Survey data from the Finnish Public Sector study (2015-2017).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study examines how changes in daily physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep patterns during the retirement transition affect cardiometabolic health in retiring public sector workers.* -
  • Data was collected using accelerometers and diaries to measure time spent in sedentary behavior, light physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and sleep, alongside measurements of various cardiometabolic biomarkers.* -
  • Results indicate that increasing light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity led to improved cholesterol levels and reduced triglycerides, suggesting that replacing passive behaviors with more physical activity can enhance health during the retirement phase.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Climate change scenarios illustrate various pathways in terms of global warming ranging from "sustainable development" (Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP1-1.9), the best-case scenario, to 'fossil-fueled development' (SSP5-8.5), the worst-case scenario.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The Finnish Retirement and Aging (FIREA) Study was set up to study changes in health behavioural and cardiometabolic risk factors across retirement transition, and to examine the long-term consequences of work and retirement on health and functioning with advancing age.

Participants: Public sector workers whose estimated statutory retirement date was in 2014-2019 were invited to participate by sending them a questionnaire 18 months prior to their estimated retirement date. In the first phase of the FIREA Study, participants were followed up with annual surveys, accelerometer and clinical measurements during retirement transition into post-retirement years.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The evidence is insufficient regarding the association between organizational downsizing and employee mental health. Our aim was to analyze trajectories of prescribed sedatives and anxiolytics with a sufficiently long follow-up time to capture anticipation, implementation and adaption to a downsizing event among stayers, changers and those who become unemployed compared to unexposed employees.

Method: Residents in Sweden aged 20-54 years in 2007, with stable employment between 2004 and 2007, were followed between 2005 and 2013 (n = 2,305,795).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: fopen(/var/lib/php/sessions/ci_session5sr977h7mos09v6d6nig5ejr9itm49eq): Failed to open stream: No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 177

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_start(): Failed to read session data: user (path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Session/Session.php

Line Number: 137

Backtrace:

File: /var/www/html/index.php
Line: 316
Function: require_once