Sustainable Working Life Patterns in a Swedish Twin Cohort: Age-Related Sequences of Sickness Absence, Disability Pension, Unemployment, and Premature Death during Working Life

Abstract

We aimed to investigate sustainable working life via age-related sequences of sickness absence (SA), disability pension (DP), unemployment (UE), premature death, and the influence of individual characteristics, accounting for familial confounding. The sample included monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) same-sexed twin pairs with register data (n = 47,450) that were followed for 10 years in four age cohorts: 26–35 (n = 9892), 36–45 (n = 10,620), 46–55 (n = 12,964) and 56–65 (n = 13,974). A sequence analysis was done in a 7-element state space: 1. “Sustainable working life”: SA/DP 0–30 days and UE 0–90 days; 2. “Unemployment >90 days”: SA/DP 0–30 days and UE > 90 days; 3. “Moderate SA/DP”: SA/DP 30–180 days; 4. “Almost full year of SA/DP”: SA/DP 180–365 days; 5. “Full year of SA/DP”: SA/DP ≥ 365 days; 6. Death; 7. Old-age pension. The largest cluster had a sustainable working life and never experienced states 2–6 (34–59%). Higher education and being married predicted a lower likelihood of experiencing states 2–6. The MZ twin pairs (vs. DZ) were more often in the same cluster suggesting the role of genetic factors. To conclude, the sustainable working life was the largest cluster group. Few individuals had prolonged periods of interruptions of sustainable working life meriting actions, especially in early adulthood for interventions to support workability.