ArticleOccupational and environmental medicine2021
High physical work demands have worse consequences for older workers: prospective study of long-term sickness absence among 69 117 employees.
Article in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Systematic Review of Workplace Interventions to Support Young Workers' Safety, Work Environment and Health.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Pooled it
- Participatory Ergonomics Intervention to Prevent Work Disability Among Workers with Low Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial in Workplace Setting.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2022Trial
- First evidence on ergonomic exposures and musculoskeletal pain among the Faroese workforce.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2026Article
- Decline in Work Ability over Time and Its Association with Physical Performance Among Senior Workers: A Prospective Cohort Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- The impact of working conditions on sickness absence among older workers: a systematic review.European journal of ageing · 2026Review
- Favorable changes in health- and work-related factors and subsequent work ability in midlife and older social and health care employees.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2026Article
- Prospective associations between occupational physical activity level and sleep disturbances: a five-year follow-up study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Facilitators and barriers for working beyond statutory pension age: A prospective cohort study across 26 European countries.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2024Article
- The use of individual and collective selection, optimisation and compensation (SOC) strategies and their association with work ability among senior workers.European journal of ageing · 2024Article
- 'Wait…, let me tell you, if I worked for a boss, I would be on sick leave': A Qualitative Study of Self-Employed Workers in Physically Demanding Jobs in the Netherlands.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2024Article
- Article
- How does lowering psychosocial risks influence sickness absence? A prospective cohort study analyzed as a quasi-experiment.European journal of public health · 2024Article
- Influence of brick laying height on biomechanical load in masons: Cross-sectional field study with technical measurements.Work (Reading, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Association of objectively measured lifting load with low-back pain, stress, and fatigue: A prospective cohort study.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2024Article
- Public management approaches to an aging workforce: organizational strategies for strategies for adaptability and efficiency.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Automotive workers: the role of coordinative and conditional abilities as effectiveness wellness indicator.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Moderating effect of cardiorespiratory fitness on sickness absence in occupational groups with different physical workloads.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Article
- Effects of consecutive workdays and days off on low back pain, fatigue and stress: prospective cohort study among warehouse and construction workers.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2023Article
- The impact of leisure-time physical activity and occupational physical activity on sickness absence. A prospective study among people with physically demanding jobs.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study investigates the role of age for the prospective association between physical work demands and long-term sickness absence (LTSA).
methodsWe followed 69 117 employees of the general working population (Work Environment and Health in Denmark study 2012-2018), without LTSA during the past 52 weeks preceding initial interview, for up to 2 years in the Danish Register for Evaluation of Marginalisation. Self-reported physical work demands were based on a combined ergonomic index including seven different types of exposure during the working day. Using weighted Cox regression analyses controlling for years of age, gender, survey year, education, lifestyle, depressive symptoms and psychosocial work factors, we determined the interaction of age with physical work demands for the risk of LTSA.
resultsDuring follow-up, 8.4% of the participants developed LTSA. Age and physical work demands interacted (p<0.01). In the fully adjusted model, very high physical work demands were associated with LTSA with HRs of 1.18 (95% CI 0.93 to 1.50), 1.57 (95% CI 1.41 to 1.75) and 2.09 (95% CI 1.81 to 2.41) for 20, 40 and 60 years old (point estimates), respectively. Results remained robust in subgroup analyses including only skilled and unskilled workers and stratified for gender.
conclusionThe health consequences of high physical work demands increase with age. Workplaces should consider adapting physical work demands to the capacity of workers in different age groups.
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