Influence of illness and unhealthy behavior on health‐related early retirement in Korea: Results from a longitudinal study in Korea

Abstract

sion, diabetes, malignancy, arthritis, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, smoking, and obesity increased the risk of ERdHP. To enhance the sustainability of labor in an aging society, more studies on ERdHP are needed. (J Occup Health 2015; 57: 28-38) Key words: Aging, Cox proportional hazard model, Early retirement, Gender, Korean longitudinal data Involuntary early retirement is a serious financial concern for workers and their families 1) . Beyond the individual level, early retirement contributes to social problems. Because most industrialized countries have an increased life expectancy and reduced birth rates, social concern has developed with regard to increasing labor force participation and decreasing involuntary retirement 2) . Various studies have indicated that worker retired early due to illness even though they needed to work to maintain their economic lives 3) . Illness also affects restarting work participation after retirement in old age 4) . Some studies have shown that chronic disease affects early retirement 4) . Furthermore, studies that used self-perceived health status to investigate the effect of illness on early retirement 5) suggest that selfperceived health is a very important factor in the retirement process 6) . In addition, it is important to identify specific diseases related to early retirement in order to reduce the risk of early retirement. For example, workers with psychological diseases such as depression show higher job turnover, low productivity, and eventually high retirement rates 7) . Lower physical functioning, working error, and limitations at work are predictors of early retirement, and these factors are linked to musculoskeletal disorder 8) . Nevertheless, few The aim of this study was to elucidate the effect of illness and unhealthy behavior on early retirement due to health problems (ERdHP) using Korean longitudinal data. Methods: This study used data collected from 3,508 subjects enrolled in the first to fourth phases of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA). This study was conducted from 2006 to 2012 using structured questionnaires on retirement, morbidities, and health-related behaviors. We adopted the Cox proportional hazard model to investigate the effects of diagnosed disease and health-related behaviors on ERdHP. Results: Participants who smoked, were obese, or suffered from hypertension, diabetes, malignancy, heart disease, stroke, or arthritis had a significantly higher risk of health-related early retirement after adjustment for gender, age, and occupation. Further, risk factors such as lack of exercise, stroke, arthritis, obesity, and malignancy differentially affect early retirement by gender. Conclusions: This is the first study, that we are aware of, to examine the effect of illness and unhealthy behavior on ERdHP in Asia, using Korean longitudinal data. We found that hyperten-

Chronic Diseases, Health Behaviors, and Demographic Characteristics as Predictors of Ill Health Retirement: Findings from the Korea Health Panel Survey (2008–2012)

“…The development of those diseases can have deleterious effects on remaining in paid labor. These results are support Kang et al [18], who suggested that workers with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, malignancy, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and arthritis were more likely to experience IHR.…”

“…Our analysis shows that viral hepatitis, ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, cerebral stroke, alcoholism, insomnia, urolithiasis, pneumoconiosis, and vertigo strongly increase IHR risk (S1 Table). Part of the associations between specific diseases and IHR which we found in this study are also discussed in previous studies [18, 21]. In addition, we found that some diseases with high prevalence in Asia can be much heavier disease burden to IHR in Asian societies than Western countries (i.e., viral hepatitis, retinal disease et al).…”

“…The estimated results suggested that greater female labor force participation can mitigate the economic consequences of an ageing society. Another study, which analyzed the Korean elderly population using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) dataset (2006–2012), found that smoking, obesity, hypertension, malignancy, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis are major determinants of IHR among female workers [18]. Prevention and management of those conditions would increase the female participation rate in the labor market.…”

“…The effect of illness and unhealthy behavior on health-related early retirement in Korea was investigated in a study recently using the KLoSA database [18]; the present study goes a step further. First, our study included individuals aged 20–70 years, whereas the KLoSA study only included those aged >45 years.…”

Job characteristics as risk factors for early retirement due to ill health: The Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006-2014)

“…In previous studies, many factors influencing exit from the labor market have been identified. These factors include demographic predictors like age and gender as well as behavioral and lifestyle risk predictors such as physical inactivity and smoking, socioeconomic status, chronic diseases, welfare arrangements, working conditions, and so on. As Schultz proposed, these factors can be seen as “push” and “pull” factors .…”