2026/06/23 by Laura Gimeno, Charis Bridger Staatz, Alice Goisis +2 · 1 voice
Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Demographic economics #Demography #Economics #Employment and Welfare Studies #Gerontology #Global Health Care Issues #Health services #Maternal health #Medicine #Political science #Population #Psychology #Retirement, Disability, and Employment #Sociology
paper · doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2026.101940
openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex publication_date 2026/06/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
ABSTRACT Background Health-related economic inactivity is a growing concern in the United Kingdom but little is known about how the relationship between health and work participation has changed across cohorts. Methods We used data from two British birth cohorts born in 1958 (National Child Development Study, n = 9,761) and 1970 (British Cohort Study, n = 7,336). We examined how self-reported chronic health conditions at age 42 (longstanding illness, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, back pain, and mental ill-health) were associated with economic activity at ages 50–54, focusing on health-related inactivity. Multinomial logistic regression models, adjusted for previous economic activity and sociodemographic characteristics, were used to estimate average marginal effects (AME). Results Poor health was more prevalent in the 1970c, including among those still working at age 50-54. Longstanding illness and mental ill-health were associated with a higher risk of health-related inactivity in both cohorts. A longstanding illness at age 42 was associated with a 6 percentage-point increase in health-related inactivity risk a decade later (AME 1958 = 5.9 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 2.7, 9.1], AME 1970 = 6.5 [95%CI 3.4, 9.6]), and mental ill-health with a 4.5 percentage-point higher risk (AME 1958 = 4.4 [95%CI 0.9, 7.9], AME 1970 = 4.5 [95%CI 1.1, 7.8]). The magnitude of associations was similar across cohorts except for high blood pressure. Conclusions Chronic health conditions in early midlife were strongly associated with a health-related inactivity, despite contextual change. Preventing ill-health and supporting employment for those with chronic conditions is key to face the challenges of population ageing.