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Perceived Work Ability in the Light of Long-Term and Stress-Related Unhealthy Behaviors—a Prospective Cohort Study

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Abstract

Background

Most of the few studies that exist on the longitudinal associations between health behaviors and work ability target to single health behaviors.

Purpose

To investigate how lifetime clusters of unhealthy behaviors associate with perceived work ability in early midlife.

Methods

The study population consisted of 46-year-old men and women (n = 3107) born in Northern Finland in 1966. Their current perceived work ability compared to lifetime best, and their unhealthy behaviors (physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol consumption) were assessed by questionnaires. We determined clusters of unhealthy behaviors at the ages of 14, 31, and 46 and created lifetime development trajectories of health behaviors. We also assessed stress-related eating and drinking at the ages of 31 and 46.

Cross-tabulations and multivariate logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between clusters of health behaviors, stress-related eating and drinking, and work ability at 46 years. The analyses were controlled for basic education and physical strenuousness of work, psychosocial job characteristics, perceived work ability, and BMI (kg/m2) at 31 years.

Results

Four health behavior trajectories emerged: always healthy, moderate (reference group), deteriorated. and always unhealthy. Among men, always unhealthy behaviors [OR (95 % confidence interval) 2.81 (1.35, 5.86)], and among women, deteriorated health behaviors [1.67 (1.07, 2.58)] associated with poor perceived work ability at 46 years. In addition, stress-related eating and drinking associated independently with poor perceived work ability at 46 years [men 2.58 (1.62, 4.12) and women 2.48 (1.70, 3.61)].

Conclusion

Long-lasting and stress-related unhealthy behaviors increase the risk of poor work ability in midlife.

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Acknowledgments

The study was funded by The Finnish Work Environment Fund (project 111252). The data collection of the 1966 Northern Finland Birth Cohort was financially supported by the European Commission (EURO-BLCS, Framework 5 award QLG1-CT-2000-01643), the US National Institutes of Health (NIMH) (5R01MH63706:02), the EU (European Regional Development Fund), the Oulu University Hospital, and the University of Oulu.

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

We thank the late Professor Paula Rantakallio for initiating the Northern Finland Birth Cohort study and Ms Alice Lehtinen for revising the language of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

Author Nina Nevanperä, Author Jorma Seitsamo, Author Leena Ala-Mursula, Author Jouko Remes, Author Leila Hopsu, Author Juha Auvinen, Author Tuija Tammelin, Author Marjo-Riitta Järvelin, and Author Jaana Laitinen declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland

    Nina Nevanperä, Jorma Seitsamo, Jouko Remes, Leila Hopsu & Jaana Laitinen

  2. Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Leena Ala-Mursula, Juha Auvinen & Marjo-Riitta Järvelin

  3. LIKES—Research Center for Sport and Health Sciences, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Tuija Tammelin

  4. Imperial College London, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and MRC Health Protection Agency (HPA) Centre for Environment and Health, London, UK

    Marjo-Riitta Järvelin

  5. National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Marjo-Riitta Järvelin

  6. Unit of Primary Care, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland

    Juha Auvinen & Marjo-Riitta Järvelin

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  1. Nina Nevanperä
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Correspondence to Nina Nevanperä.

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Nevanperä, N., Seitsamo, J., Ala-Mursula, L. et al. Perceived Work Ability in the Light of Long-Term and Stress-Related Unhealthy Behaviors—a Prospective Cohort Study. Int.J. Behav. Med. 23, 179–189 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-015-9512-0

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