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Original research
Trajectories of self-rated health before and after retirement: evidence from two cohort studies
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  1. Sari Stenholm1,2,
  2. Marianna Virtanen3,4,
  3. Jaana Pentti1,2,5,
  4. Tuula Oksanen6,
  5. Mika Kivimäki5,6,7,
  6. Jussi Vahtera1,2
  1. 1 Department of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
  2. 2 Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
  3. 3 School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
  4. 4 Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
  5. 5 Clinicum, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
  6. 6 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku and Helsinki, Finland
  7. 7 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sari Stenholm, Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku 20014, Finland; sari.stenholm{at}utu.fi

Abstract

Objectives Previous studies have produced conflicting findings on the health consequences of retirement. We aimed at identifying trajectories of self-rated health over retirement transition using repeated measurements and examined which preretirement factors predicted membership to each trajectory.

Methods The study population consisted of Finnish public sector employees from two independent cohorts (Finnish Public Sector Study (FPS), n=5776 with a 4-year follow-up interval; and Finnish Retirement and Aging Study (FIREA), n=2796 with a 1-year follow-up interval). Both cohorts included assessment of self-rated health one to three times before and one to three times after retirement (average number of measurement points: 3.7 in FPS and 3.5 in FIREA). We used latent trajectory analysis to identify trajectories of self-rated health.

Results In both cohorts four similar trajectories were identified: ‘Sustained good health’ (47% in FPS and 74% in FIREA), ‘From good to suboptimal health’ (19% and 6%), ‘From suboptimal to good health’ (14% and 8%) and ‘Sustained suboptimal health’ (20% and 12%). There were more women and persons in high occupational status in the ‘From suboptimal to good health’ trajectory group when compared with ‘Sustained suboptimal health’ trajectory group in FPS. Those in the trajectory ‘From good to suboptimal health’ had lower occupational status and higher job strain in comparison with those in the ‘Sustained good health’ trajectory in both cohorts.

Conclusions A large majority of public sector employees maintain their perceived health status during retirement transition. Adverse trajectory in self-rated health relate to low occupational status and work-related stressors.

  • ageing
  • cohort
  • retirement
  • self-rated health
  • trajectory

https://doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2019-106026

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors SS, JV and MK conceived and designed the studies and designed the data collection. SS analysed the data and drafted the first manuscript, with critical revisions from MV, JP, TO, MK and JV. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

    • Funding This study was financially supported by the Academy of Finland (grant numbers 286294, 294154 and 319246 to SS) and the Finnish Work Environment Fund (118060 to SS and 117094 to TO). MK was supported by NordForsk, the Academy of Finland (311492) and Helsinki Institute of Life Science.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Obtained.

    • Ethics approval FPS was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and the Ethics Committee of the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. FIREA was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hospital District of Southwest Finland.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement We are allowed to share anonymised questionnaire data of the Finnish Retirement and Aging study by application for with bona fide researchers with an established scientific record and bona fide organisations. For information about the Finnish Retirement and Aging Study contact Prof. Sari Stenholm sari.stenholm@utu.fi. For information about the Finnish Public Sector Study contact Prof. Mika Kivimaki mika.kivimaki@helsinki.fi / Dr. Tuula Oksanen tuula.oksanen@ttl.fi.