[Self-rated general health by occupation and age in the working population in Germany]

In occupations, self-rated general health status was examined under special consideration of age. Data from the GEDA 2009 and 2010 surveys (N = 26,303) were analyzed. Professionals had a low prevalence of poor health, whereas unskilled service workers and-among males-unskilled manual workers had a high prevalence. In older workers the prevalence of poor general health was greater than among younger workers. However, the difference in health between young and old was significantly smaller than the general pattern among male managers and women in skilled commercial and administrative occupations. Among male skilled workers and female unskilled manual workers, the difference in health between young and old was greater. The-with increasing age-growing health gap between occupational groups should receive more attention. In order to understand the relationship between work, age and health, targeted longitudinal sectional studies are needed. It might be misleading to adjust associations between work and health by age, because age might moderate this relationship.