[Health reasons for work disability among persons before going into early retirement]

The demographic situation in Poland shows a progressive ageing of its population and a concomitant decrease in the number of people of the productive age. The identification of health problems in older groups of people of the productive age is essential for gaining better knowledge of measures to be taken in order to extend the period of occupational activity in this groups of workers. The aim of the study was to define the health status of persons going into early retirement on the basis of their sickness absence history covering the five preceding years.

The study was conducted among workers, aged over 45 years and below the retirement age, employed at production posts or operating production processes. The analysis covered 303 workers who went into early retirement in the years 1996-2000 and 485 persons in the same age group, but still employed. Information on the health causes of their disability to work during a five-year period was collected for both groups of persons. The temporary work disability was analyzed using the following parameters: sickness absence rate, sickness absence cases and the average duration of sickness absence.

The study showed that the total sickness absence among persons going into early retirement during the preceding five years was 64% for men (sickness absence rate--18.56) and 14% for women (sickness absence rate--15.97), and it was higher compared to still employed persons. These differences were mostly observed in the group of diseases of the nervous system and sense organs (over twofold difference in men and about 58% in women), diseases of the circulatory and respiratory systems in men and diseases of the genitourinary system in women (about twofold difference). The main causes of sickness absence were: diseases of the circulatory (29% of male and 16% of female sickness absence), musculoskeletal (19 and 17%, respectively), and respiratory (15 and 19%, respectively) systems, as well as diseases of the nervous system and sense organs (15% of male sickness absence) and neoplasms (12% of female sickness absence).

The results of the study indicate that in the older group of workers, health problems are one of the major causes of going into retirement before reaching the retirement age.