Abstract
Background
With rising retirement ages, healthy ageing of the working population becomes more important. Obesity is a modifiable health factor associated with chronic diseases and lower work functioning, which could lead to early employment exit. The current study aims to investigate the associations of obesity and overweight with early employment exit types.
Methods
Longitudinal data from the Lifelines Cohort Study, a population-based study in the Northern part of the Netherlands, was used. Overweight and obesity were defined as BMI 25–30 and ≥ 30, respectively, and measured at baseline. Employment exit types (i.e., disability pension, early retirement, and unemployment) were derived from a self-reported questionnaire at a median follow-up of 8.3 years. The associations of overweight and obesity with early employment exit were examined using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Models were adjusted for sociodemographic factors, health behaviours and multimorbidity.
Results
In 15,717 participants (mean age at baseline: 53.1 years; 59.0% female), 7.4% (N = 343) participants transitioned from employment to disability pension, 16.1% (N = 747) to early retirement, and 3.7% (N = 174) to unemployment. In the fully adjusted models, overweight was associated with unemployment-related employment exit (OR: 1.44, 95% CI: 1.00, 2.08), and obesity was associated with disability-related employment exit (OR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.44). Overweight and obesity were not associated with early retirement-related exit.
Conclusions
Obesity was associated with disability-related employment exit before statutory retirement, independent of sociodemographic factors, health behaviours and multimorbidity. Increased education and awareness of the labour market consequences of obesity among employers and employees could lead to healthier working lives.
Key messages
• Obesity is associated with disability-related employment exit, independent of sociodemographic factors, health behaviours and multimorbidity.
• Education and awareness of the labour market consequences of obesity could promote healthier working lives.