title: Age, occupational demands and the risk of serious work injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Interest in the relationship between age and serious work injury is increasing, given the ageing of the workforce in many industrialized economies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine if the relationship between age and risk of serious musculoskeletal injury differs when the physical demands of work are higher from those when they are lower.
  
  
  METHODS
  A secondary analysis of workers' compensation claims in the State of Victoria, Australia, combined with estimates of the insured labour force. We focused on musculoskeletal claims, which required 10 days of absence or health care expenditures beyond a pecuniary threshold. Regression models examined the relationship between age and claim-risk across workers with different occupational demands, as well as the relationship between occupational demands and musculoskeletal claim-risk across different age groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Older age and greater physical demands at work were associated with an increased risk of musculoskeletal claims. In models stratified by occupational demands, we observed the relationship between age and claim-risk was steeper when occupational demands were higher. We also observed that the relationship between occupational demands and risk of work injury claim peaked among workers aged 25-44, attenuating among those aged 45 and older.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study's results suggest that although older workers and occupations with higher demands should be the targets of primary preventive efforts related to serious musculoskeletal injuries, there may also be gains in targeting middle-aged workers in the most physically demanding occupations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Institute for Work and Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, peter.smith@monash.edu.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Monash Injury Research Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Berecki-Gisolf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D062707:Return to Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016526:Workload
keywords: Age; epidemiology; health and safety; occupational injury; working conditions.