Occupational Exposures Associated with Life Expectancy without and with Disability.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Occupational Health
• Public Health

Background:

• Policies extending working lives often overlook health inequalities linked to occupational exposures.
• Understanding the specific occupational exposures contributing to these inequalities is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how occupational exposures influence life expectancy without and with disability.
• To identify specific work demands and resources associated with differential health outcomes in older workers.

Main Methods:

• Utilized longitudinal data from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (1992-2016).
• Included 2513 former workers aged 55 years and older.
• Employed multistate survival models to calculate gender-specific life expectancies without and with disability based on occupational exposures.

Main Results:

• Women aged 55 with high physical work demands had 1.02-1.57 years lower life expectancy without disability compared to those with low exposure; no difference was observed in men.
• Both men and women aged 55 with high psychosocial work demands and resources experienced 1.19-2.14 years longer life expectancy without disability than their counterparts with low exposure.
• No significant differences in life expectancy with disability were found across varying occupational exposures.

Conclusions:

• Workers with higher psychosocial demands/resources and lower physical demands are projected to live more years free from disability.
• Occupational exposure data can identify older workers at risk for reduced life expectancy, particularly without disability, necessitating targeted workplace interventions.