Social security status and mortality in Belgian and Spanish male workers.
OBJECTIVE
To assess differences in mortality rates between social security statuses in two independent samples of Belgian and Spanish male workers.


METHODS
Study of two retrospective cohorts (Belgium, n=23,607; Spain, n=44,385) of 50-60 year old male employees with 4 years of follow-up. Mortality rate ratios (MRR) were estimated using Poisson regression models.


RESULTS
Mortality for subjects with permanent disability was higher than for the employed, for both Belgium [MRR=4.56 (95% CI: 2.88-7.21)] and Spain [MRR=7.15 (95% CI: 5.37-9.51)]. For the unemployed/early retirees, mortality was higher in Spain [MRR=1.64 (95% CI: 1.24-2.17)] than in Belgium [MRR=0.88 (95% CI: 0.46-1.71)].


CONCLUSIONS
MRR differences between Belgium and Spain for unemployed workers could be partly explained because of differences between the two social security systems. Future studies should further explore mortality differences between countries with different social security systems.
Center for Research in Occupational Health (CiSAL), Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: xavierduranj@gmail.com.
Xavier
X
Duran
Interface Demography - Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium; Postdoctoral researcher, Research Foundation Flanders, Belgium; Health Inequalities Research Group, Employment Conditions Knowledge Network (GREDS-EMCONET), Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
Christophe
C
Vanroelen
Interface Demography - Department of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium.
Patrick
P
Deboosere
Center for Research in Occupational Health (CiSAL), Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain; IMIM Parc Salut Mar, Barcelona, Spain.
Fernando G
FG
Benavides
D001530:Belgium; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008571:Men; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012179:Retirement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012943:Social Security / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
Desempleo; Incapacidad permanente; Mortalidad; Mortality; Occupational health; Permanent disability; Salud laboral; Seguridad social; Social security; Unemployment