title: Devil in disguise: Does drinking lead to a disability pension?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether alcohol consumption in adulthood is related to the incidence of receiving a disability pension later in life.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twin data for Finnish men and women born before 1958 were matched to register-based individual information on disability pensions. Twin differences were used to eliminate both shared environmental and genetic factors. The quantity of alcohol consumption was measured as the weekly average consumption using self-reported data from three surveys (1975, 1981 and 1990). The disability pension data were evaluated from 1990-2004.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The models that account for shared environmental and genetic factors reveal that heavy drinkers are significantly more likely to receive a disability pension than moderate drinkers or constant abstainers. Heavy drinking that leads to passing out is also positively related to receiving a disability pension. The results were robust to the use of potential confounders that twins do not share, such as education years, the number of chronic diseases, physical activity at work and leisure, and stressful life events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Drinking profiles in early adulthood are an important predictor of receiving a disability pension later in life.
authors.affiliation: Turku School of Economics, Labour Institute for Economic Research and IZA, Pitkänsillanranta 3A, FI-00530 Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: petri.bockerman@labour.fi.
authors.forename: Petri
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Böckerman
authors.affiliation: University of Jyväskylä, School of Business and Economics, Jyväskylä, Finland. Electronic address: ari.t.hyytinen@jyu.fi.
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hyytinen
authors.affiliation: Labour Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: terhi.maczulskij@labour.fi.
authors.forename: Terhi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maczulskij
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D001324:Autoantigens; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010415:Pensions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001324:Autoantigens; C518252:RegII protein, mouse
keywords: Alcohol consumption; Co-twin control; Disability pension; Twins