Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Dec 11;30(6):1218-1224.
doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaa132.

Socioeconomic factors in disability retirement due to mental disorders in Finland

Tino Karolaakso  1 , Reija Autio  1 , Turkka Näppilä  2 , Kirsti Nurmela  1   3 , Sami Pirkola  1   4
Affiliations

Socioeconomic factors in disability retirement due to mental disorders in Finland

Tino Karolaakso et al. Eur J Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Previous research has identified low socioeconomic status (SES) as an epidemiological risk factor for early retirement and disability pension (DP) due to mental disorders. This study aims to examine these associations in greater detail, with separate consideration of the risk factors for mood disorders (F30-39) and non-affective psychotic disorder (F20-29) DP.

Methods: In this case-control setting the subjects (N = 36 879) were all those granted DP due to a mental disorder for the first time between 2010 and 2015 in Finland. All the subjects were matched with three controls for their gender, age and hospital district (N = 94 388). Three measures of dimensions of SES were used: education, income and occupational status, as well as family type as a control factor. Differences between DP recipients and controls, and between diagnostic groups, were studied using calculated characteristics and conditional logistic regression models.

Results: DP recipients often lived alone and had low educational and income levels. These characteristics were more prominent in non-affective psychotic disorder than in mood disorder DP. In white-collar occupational groups, the risk of DP was greater compared with blue-collar workers. Students were associated with the highest level of risk for all mental and mood disorder DPs.

Conclusions: We found evidence of SES factors associating with mental disorder-related severe loss of working and studying ability in a disorder-specific way. Notably, white-collar workers had an increased risk of mental disorder DP. This could be related to the psychosocially demanding contemporary working life in non-manual work.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Socioeconomic differences for all mental disorder-related disability pensions (black), mood disorders F30–39 disability pensions (red) and non-affective psychotic disorders F20–29 disability pensions (blue) in Finland by OR and 95% CI as a dot plot figure of final statistical models (adjusted for age, gender, hospital district and all factors in the figure). Reference groups for each factor are marked as 1.0
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Finnish Centre for Pensions. Statistical Yearbook of Pensioners in Finland 2018, Finnish Centre for Pensions; 2019. Available at : http://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/138809/statistical-yearbook... (20 february 2020, date last accessed).
    1. Compton MT, Shim RS. The Social Determinants of Mental Health, 1st edn. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2015.
    1. Fryers T, Melzer D, Jenkins R. Social inequalities and the common mental disorders: a systematic review of the evidence. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 2003;38:229–37. - PubMed
    1. Lorant V, Deliège D, Eaton W, et al. Socioeconomic inequalities in depression: a meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol 2003;157:98–112. - PubMed
    1. Macintyre A, Ferris D, Gonçalves B, Quinn N. What has economics got to do with it? The impact of socioeconomic factors on mental health and the case for collective action. Palgrave Commun 2018;4:

Publication types