title: Midlife job profiles and disabilities in later life: a 28-year follow-up of municipal employees in Finland.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Occupations during adult life may have long-term effects and subsequently increase the risk of disability in old age. We investigated the associations between job profile groups in midlife and disability in old age for women and men.
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective 28-year follow-up study (1981-2009) examined 2998 municipal employees (1892 women and 1106 men) aged 44-58 years at baseline. A detailed analysis of the demands of 88 occupations based on interviews and observations at the work places was made at baseline. Thirteen job profile clusters emerged. Questionnaire information on health, lifestyle and socio-demographic factors was collected at baseline. In 2009, five Activities of Daily Living and seven Instrumental Activities of Daily Living tasks were assessed. A sum score of '0-12' was calculated using 12 dichotomous tasks where '0' indicates no difficulties in any tasks and '1-12' indicates increasing disability. Negative binomial regression was used to calculate rate ratios (RR) and their 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) for disability due to midlife job profiles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After adjusting for age, socioeconomic, lifestyle and health-related characteristics, women in auxiliary (RR 2.1, 95 % CI 1.4-3.2), home care (2.1, 1.4-3.2), kitchen supervision (2.0, 1.1-3.6) and office (1.6, 1.1-2.4) job profiles had a higher risk of disability in later life than those in administrative jobs. Auxiliary (1.5, 1.1-2.9) and technical supervision (1.7, 1.1-2.7) job profiles carried an increased risk among men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Midlife job profiles mainly linked with physically heavy work were strong predictors of disability in later life. In women, office work also increased the risk of disability.
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Pirkanmaa Region, Finland. Prakash.kc@uta.fi.|Gerontology Research Center, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Finland. Prakash.kc@uta.fi.
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Prakash
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Pirkanmaa Region, Finland.|Gerontology Research Center, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Subas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Neupane
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Pirkanmaa Region, Finland.|Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Päivi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leino-Arjas
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center and Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Mikaela B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: von Bonsdorff
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center and Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Taina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rantanen
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center and Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Monika E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: von Bonsdorff
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Jorma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Seitsamo
authors.affiliation: Juhani Ilmarinen Consulting Ltd, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Juhani
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ilmarinen
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Pirkanmaa Region, Finland.|Gerontology Research Center, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Clas-Håkan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Nygård
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D009111:Local Government; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014937:Work
keywords: ADL/IADL disability; Job profile; Later life; Longitudinal studies; Middle age