Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026
Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
Published on: September 30, 2020
Work environment and disability pension-- an 18-year follow-up study in a Norwegian working population
Morten Støver1, Kristine Pape, Roar Johnsen
1Department of Public Health and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. Morten.stover@ntnu.no
Aims:
To investigate the associations between work environment indicators and health- related work disability.
Methods:
A health survey of 5,749 working 40-42-year-old Norwegians from Nordland County were linked to a national register for disability pension during a follow-up of over 18 years. The risk for disability pension following various self-reported physical and psychosocial work environmental exposures (individual and cumulative) were estimated using Cox regression analysis.
Results:
Both cumulative physical and psychosocial work environmental exposures were associated with an increased risk for disability pension, although this association was attenuated for most variables after adjusting for health and education. An increase in five poor psychosocial work environmental exposures was associated with a 22% increased risk for disability (adjusted hazard ratio, aHR, 1.22, 95% CI 1.04-1.44), whereas a similar increase in five poor physical work environmental exposures was associated with a 29% increased risk (aHR, 1.29, 95% CI 1.16-1.44). There were no indications of statistical interaction between either sex or education and work exposures.
Conclusions:
People who report a poor work environment are at a higher risk for subsequent work disability. This finding suggests that improving working conditions may be an area of intervention in order to reduce the number of people who leave the labour market with a disability pension.
