Abstract
Many people with chronic pain cannot work, while working despite chronic pain is linked to absenteeism and presenteeism and a host of other deleterious effects. This disproportionately affects older adults, who are closer to retirement, while the exact relationship between pain and work cessation as well as retirement among older adults is not known. We explore longitudinally the relationship between chronic pain and the risk of ceasing work and entering retirement.
Methods
Data from 1156 individuals 50 years or older living in England taking part in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing were used in this study. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to examine the nature of the relationship between musculoskeletal pain and work cessation as well as retirement longitudinally over the course of fourteen years.
Results
Suffering from frequent musculoskeletal pain was associated with an increased risk of ceasing work and retiring at an earlier age, as did work dissatisfaction, higher perceived social status, female gender, and not receiving the recognition they felt they deserved in their job. Severity of depressive symptoms, psychosocial job demands, decision authority, and social support did not influence the age at which participants reported work cessation or retirement.
Conclusions
Frequent musculoskeletal pain may increase the risk of earlier work exit and earlier retirement. Further research should establish the mechanisms and decision making involved in leaving the workforce in people with frequent musculoskeletal pain.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e0297155 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | PloS ONE |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 20 Mar 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Mar 2024 |
Data Availability Statement
The ELSA dataset is freely available from the UK Data Service to all bonafide researchers. The dataset can be accessed here: https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/series/?sn=200011.Funding
The UK Data Archive made available the data. A team of researchers based at University College London, NatCen Social Research, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the University of Manchester developed the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.NatCen Social Research collected the data. The National Institute of Aging (R01AG017644) and a consortium of UK government departments coordinated by the Economic and Social Research Council provide funding for ELSA. ELSA is funded by the National Institute on Aging (R01AG017644), and by UK Government Departments coordinated by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The funders had no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. The developers and funders of ELSA and the Archive do not bear any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Institute on Aging | R01AG017644 |