Pain and disability retirement: a prospective cohort study

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Epidemiology
• Pain Medicine

Background:

• Disability retirement is influenced by various factors, including pre-existing conditions and work environment.
• The independent impact of pain on disability retirement requires further investigation.
• Understanding pain's role is crucial for developing targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between pain (acute and chronic) and disability retirement.
• To determine if pain independently predicts disability retirement after accounting for key risk factors.
• To investigate pain's association with specific causes of disability retirement.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Helsinki Health Study baseline survey linked to national pension register data (n=6258).
• Employed Cox regression analysis to assess the association between pain and disability retirement over an 8.1-year follow-up.
• Stratified pain by the presence of long-standing illness and adjusted for multiple confounders.

Main Results:

• Chronic pain, with or without long-standing illness, showed a strong association with all disability retirement outcomes.
• The strongest associations were observed for disability retirement due to musculoskeletal diseases.
• These associations persisted even after adjusting for physician-diagnosed conditions, working conditions, and occupational class.
• Acute pain also showed associations, but they were considerably weaker than those for chronic pain.

Conclusions:

• Chronic pain is a significant contributor to disability retirement across various causes.
• The findings highlight the importance of addressing chronic pain to potentially reduce disability retirement rates.
• Prevention and effective treatment of chronic pain may be key strategies for preventing early retirement due to disability.