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. 2018 Nov;75(11):786-791.
doi: 10.1136/oemed-2018-105202. Epub 2018 Oct 4.

Recurrent back pain during working life and exit from paid employment: a 28-year follow-up of the Whitehall II Study

Tea Lallukka  1   2 , Minna Mänty  2   3 , Cyrus Cooper  4   5 , Maria Fleischmann  6 , Anne Kouvonen  7   8   9 , Karen E Walker-Bone  10 , Jenny A Head  6 , Jaana I Halonen  1
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Recurrent back pain during working life and exit from paid employment: a 28-year follow-up of the Whitehall II Study

Tea Lallukka et al. Occup Environ Med. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the impact of recurrent, as compared with single, reports of back pain on exit from paid employment over decades of follow-up.

Methods: The study sample was from the British Whitehall II Study cohort (n=8665, 69% men, aged 35-55 at baseline), who had provided information about their reports of back pain between 1985 and 1994. Data about exit from paid employment (health-related and non-health related exit, unemployment and other exit) were collected between 1995 and 2013. Repeated measures logistic regression models were fitted to examine the associations, and adjust for covariates.

Results: Recurrent pain was reported by 18% of participants, while 26% reported pain on an occasion and 56% did not report pain. Report of back pain on an occasion was not associated with health-related job exit, whereas recurrent pain was associated with such an exit (OR 1.51; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.99), when compared with those who did not report pain. These associations were somewhat stronger among middle-grade and lower-grade employees, while these associations were not seen among higher-grade employees. Differences in associations by age and psychosocial working conditions were small.

Conclusions: These results highlight the need for early detection of recurrent back pain to prevent exit out of paid employment for health reasons. As the risk varies by occupational grade, this emphasises the importance of identification of high-risk groups and finding ways to address their modifiable risk factors.

Keywords: back disorders; employment transitions; epidemiology; occupational cohort; pain.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study design.* Phase X was a pilot among a smaller number of participants testing new measures not used in this study. Further details can be found from the project website (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/whitehallII/data-collection).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportions of participants (%) over the study phases who left paid employment for health reasons, by back pain at baseline.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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