Stagnation in old age mortality among Finnish women: cause-of-death decomposition of life expectancy trends by income.

AIMS: The decline in old age mortality and subsequent increase in life expectancy among older women has stalled in some high-income countries. The contribution of causes of death to and sub-group variations in these trends are generally not well understood. We assess trends in mortality and cause-of-death decomposition of life expectancy by income over the past 30 years in Finland. METHODS: We obtained total population, annual register-based data on individuals (aged 30-89 years) residing in Finland in 1991-2020. We examined the trends in age-specific mortality rates and decomposed the contribution of various causes of death to changes in partial life expectancy among women aged 65-79 years over time and within each income quintile. In addition, we estimated life expectancy trends for the total population and by income quintile with and without causes related to alcohol consumption and smoking. RESULTS: Our results indicate stagnation in mortality development among women in Finland aged 65-79 years. The slowdown of improvements in circulatory and heart disease mortality contributed substantially to the observed stagnation, although similar trends were observed in virtually all the causes of death we studied. The lowest income groups experienced the most adverse developments during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: The stagnating life expectancy observed among Finnish women cannot be attributed solely to one cause of death. In contrast to findings on the topic from many other developed countries, smoking-related causes of death were of little significance. The stagnation is linked to growing inequality in mortality development among older women in Finland, which affects the overall trend.

Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Episodes and Subsequent Labor Market Trajectories.

PURPOSE: Adolescents with psychiatric disorders are known to be more often not in education, employment, or training (NEET) in young adulthood than their peers. However, since most of the available evidence is based on cross-sectional measurement of NEET, there is less evidence on the processes underlying these differences in labor market disadvantage. We assessed these processes by examining transitions between NEET and non-NEET states across young adulthood and the differences in these transitions by adolescent psychiatric inpatient treatment. METHODS: We used longitudinal register data on all individuals born in Finland in 1980-1984 (N = 315,508) to identify psychiatric inpatient episodes between ages 10 and 19 and NEET between ages 20 and 34. We modeled the transitions between NEET and non-NEET states and the impact of psychiatric disorders on these transitions with multistate models. RESULTS: Individuals who had psychiatric inpatient episodes in adolescence started their labor market careers as NEET twice as often as their peers. They were also more likely to transition into NEET states and less likely to transition out of NEET. In total, individuals with a history of psychiatric episodes spent from 1.8 to 6.9 more years as NEET between the ages 20 and 34 than their peers, depending on sex, baseline NEET, and diagnostic group. DISCUSSION: Adolescents with severe psychiatric disorders are highly vulnerable in terms of labor market outcomes throughout their early adulthood. Supportive measures are required both at the start of employment trajectories and during later career stages.

Contribution of causes of death to changing inequalities in life expectancy by income in Finland, 1997-2020.

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic inequalities in mortality originate from different causes of death. Alcohol-related and smoking-related deaths are major drivers of mortality inequalities across Europe. In Finland, the turn from widening to narrowing mortality disparities by income in the early 2010s was largely attributable to these causes of death. However, little is known about recent inequalities in life expectancy (LE) and lifespan variation. METHODS: We used individual-level total population register-based data with annual information on disposable household income and cause-specific mortality for ages 30-95+, and assessed the contribution of smoking on mortality using the Preston-Glei-Wilmoth method. We calculated trends in LE at age 30 and SD in lifespan by income quintile in 1997-2020 and conducted age and cause-of-death decompositions of changes in LE. RESULTS: Disparity in LE and lifespan variation by income increased in 2015-2020, largely attributable to the stagnation of both measures in the lowest income quintile. The LE gap between the extreme quintiles in 2018-2020 was 11.2 (men) and 5.9 (women) years, of which roughly 40% was attributable to alcohol and smoking. However, the recent widening of the gap and the stagnation in LE in the lowest quintile over time were not driven by any specific cause-of-death group. CONCLUSIONS: After a decade of narrowing inequalities in LE and lifespan variation in Finland, the gaps between income groups are growing again. Increasing LE disparity and stagnating mortality on the lowest income levels are no longer attributable to smoking and alcohol-related deaths but are more comprehensive, originating from most cause-of-death groups.

The relationship of income on stroke incidence in Finland and China.

BACKGROUND: Stroke incidence has continued to increase recently in most countries. The roles of individual-level income on the incidence of overall stroke and its subtypes are still unknown, especially in low- and middle-income countries and the cross-national evidence is also limited. We explored the association between individual-level income and stroke incidence in Finland and China. METHODS: Changde Social Health Insurance Database (N=571 843) and Finnish population register (N=4 046 205) data were used to calculate standard stroke incidence rates, which were employed to assess the absolute incidence difference between income quintiles. Cox regression was used to compare income differences in first-ever stroke incidence. RESULTS: The highest income quintile had lower overall and subtype stroke incidence when compared to lower-income quintiles. The relative difference was more evident in hemorrhagic stroke incidence. After adjusting for age and employment status, the disparity of stroke incidence between the lowest and highest income quintiles was high among both men and women and in Finland and China. The disparity was particularly notable among men: in Finland, the hazard ratio (HR) for hemorrhagic stroke was 0.633 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.576-0.696] and HR 0.572 (95% CI 0.540-0.606) for ischemic stroke. The respective figures were HR 0.452 (95% CI 0.276-0.739) and HR 0.633 (95% CI 0.406-0.708) for China. CONCLUSIONS: Individual-level income is related to overall and subtype stroke incidence. Future studies should explore the causal relationship between individual-level income and stroke incidence.

The association of lowered alcohol prices with birth outcomes and abortions: A population-based natural experiment.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Alcohol use during pregnancy remains an important risk factor for adverse birth outcomes, but little is known regarding how alcohol prices affect pregnancy outcomes on the population level. We assess the associations between decreased alcohol prices with birth outcomes and abortions. DESIGN: Using national registers, we used interrupted time-series modelling to compare outcomes of pregnancies conceived before and after a tax cut, resulting in 33% mean decrease of off-premise alcohol prices on 1 March 2004. We also addressed possible heterogeneity of the associations by maternal age and household income. SETTING: Finland. PARTICIPANTS: All registered pregnancies starting 2 years before and 1 year after the alcohol price cut (analysis sample consisted of 169 735 live births and 32 441 abortions). MEASUREMENTS: The outcomes were birth weight, gestational age, the probability of low birth weight (< 2500 g at birth), preterm birth (< 37 weeks of gestation), any congenital malformations and share of registered abortions of pregnancies. FINDINGS: On the population level, lowered alcohol prices were associated with an increase in abortions immediately after the price cut [+0.84 percentage points; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.2, 1.4]. For birth outcomes, negative associations were observed among women in the lowest income quintile; for example, increased probabilities of low birth weight (+1.5 percentage points; 95% CI = 0.4, 2.6) and preterm birth (+1.98 percentage points; 95% CI = 0.8, 3.2). All changes were strongest immediately after the price cut and attenuated during the course of the following year. CONCLUSIONS: Lowered alcohol prices in Finland were associated with a short-term increase in adverse birth outcomes among low-income mothers and an overall increase in abortions.

Current Unemployment, Unemployment History, and Mental Health: A Fixed-Effects Model Approach.

Poor mental health among the unemployed-the long-term unemployed in particular-is established, but these associations may be driven by confounding from unobserved, time-invariant characteristics such as past experiences and personality. Using longitudinal register data on 2,720,431 residents aged 30-60 years, we assessed how current unemployment and unemployment history predict visits to specialized care due to psychiatric conditions and self-harm in Finland in 2008-2018. We used linear ordinary-least-squares and fixed-effects models. Prior to adjusting for time-invariant characteristics, current unemployment was associated with poor mental health, and the risk increased with longer unemployment histories. Accounting for all time-invariant characteristics with the fixed-effects models, these associations attenuated by approximately 70%, yet current unemployment was still associated with a 0.51 (95% confidence interval: 0.48, 0.53) percentage-point increase in the probability of poor mental health among men and women. Longer unemployment histories increased the probability among men in their 30s but not among older men or among women. The results indicate that selection by stable characteristics may explain a major part of the worse mental health among the unemployed and especially the long-term unemployed. However, even when controlling for this selection, current unemployment remains associated with mental health.

Health-related selection into employment among the unemployed.

BACKGROUND: Successful transitions from unemployment to employment are an important concern, yet little is known about health-related selection into employment. We assessed the association of various physical and psychiatric conditions with finding employment, and employment stability. METHODS: Using total population register data, we followed Finnish residents aged 30-60 with an unemployment spell during 2009-2018 (n = 814,085) for two years from the onset of unemployment. We predicted any, stable, and unstable employment by health status using Cox proportional hazards models. The data on specialized health care and prescription reimbursement were used to identify any alcohol-related conditions and poisonings, psychiatric conditions and self-harm, injuries, and physical conditions. We further separated physical conditions into cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and neurological conditions, and psychiatric conditions into depression, anxiety disorders and substance use disorders. RESULTS: The likelihood of any employment was lower among those who had any of the assessed health conditions. It was lowest among those with alcohol-related or psychiatric conditions with an age-adjusted hazard ratio of 0.45 (95% confidence interval 0.44, 0.46) among men and 0.39 (0.38, 0.41) among women for alcohol-related and 0.64 (0.63, 0.65) and 0.66 (0.65, 0.67) for psychiatric conditions, respectively. These results were not driven by differences in socioeconomic characteristics or comorbidities. All the included conditions were detrimental to both stable and unstable employment, however alcohol-related and psychiatric conditions were more harmful for stable than for unstable employment. CONCLUSIONS: The prospects of the unemployed finding employment are reduced by poor health, particularly alcohol-related and psychiatric conditions. These two conditions may also lead to unstable career trajectories. The selection process contributes to the health differentials between employed and unemployed people. Unemployed people with health problems may therefore need additional support to improve their chances of employment.

Unemployment from stable, downsized and closed workplaces and alcohol-related mortality.

AIMS: To assess the importance of health selection in the association between unemployment and alcohol-related mortality by comparing mortalities of those unemployed from workplaces experiencing different levels of downsizing. The more severe the downsizing, the less dependent unemployment would be on personal characteristics and the weaker the role of health selection. DESIGN: We estimated hazards models of unemployment on alcohol-related diseases and poisonings and external causes with alcohol as a contributing cause over follow-ups of 0-5, 6-10 and 11-20 years and at different levels of downsizing (stable, downsized or closed). SETTING: Finland, 1990 to 2009. PARTICIPANTS: A register-based random sample of employees aged 25-63 in privately owned workplaces (n = 275 738). MEASUREMENTS: The outcome was alcohol-related death and the exposure was unemployment. We adjusted for age, sex, year, education, marital status, health status, workplace tenure, industry, region and unemployment rate. FINDINGS: Alcohol-disease mortality was elevated among the unemployed throughout the follow-up, regardless of the level of downsizing. At 11-20 years after baseline, those unemployed from stable workplaces had a 2.46 hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.14-2.82), those from downsized workplaces 1.94 (95% CI = 1.64-2.30) and those from closed workplaces 2.13 (95% CI = 1.75-2.59), when compared with the controls. Alcohol-related external-cause mortality at 0-5 years follow-up was only associated with unemployment from stable workplaces (HR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.22-1.58), but over time, an association emerged among those unemployed following downsizing and closure. At 11-20-year follow-up, the HR following downsizing was 1.83 (CI 95% = 1.37-2.45) and 1.54 (95% CI = 1.03-2.28) following closure. CONCLUSIONS: There is some indication that alcohol-related ill-health may lead to unemployment in Finland. However, the persistent long-term association between unemployment and alcohol-related mortality even after workplace closure may imply a causal relation.

Exploring the longevity advantage of doctorates in Finland and Sweden: The role of smoking- and alcohol-related causes of death.

AIMS: Tobacco smoking and alcohol use contribute to differences in life expectancy between individuals with primary, secondary and tertiary education. Less is known about the contribution of these risk factors to differences at higher levels of education. We estimate the contribution of smoking and alcohol use to the life-expectancy differences between the doctorates and the other tertiary-educated groups in Finland and in Sweden. METHODS: We used total population data from Finland and Sweden from 2011 to 2015 to calculate period life expectancies at 40 years of age. We present the results by sex and educational attainment, the latter categorised as doctorate or licentiate degrees, or other tertiary. We also present an age and cause of death decomposition to assess the contribution of deaths related to smoking and alcohol. RESULTS: In Finland, deaths related to smoking and alcohol constituted 48.6% of the 2.1-year difference in life expectancy between men with doctorate degrees and the other tertiary-educated men, and 22.9% of the 2.1-year difference between women, respectively. In Sweden, these causes account for 22.2% of the 1.9-year difference among men, and 55.7% of the 1.6-year difference among women, which in the latter case is mainly due to smoking. Conclusions: Individuals with doctorates tend to live longer than other tertiary-educated individuals. This difference can be partly attributed to alcohol consumption and smoking.

The Association Between Unemployment and Mortality: A Cohort Study of Workplace Downsizing and Closure.

Workplace downsizing and closure have been considered natural experiments that strengthen causal inference when assessing the association between unemployment and health. Selection into unemployment plays a lesser role among those exposed to severe workplace downsizing. This study compared mortality for individuals unemployed from stable, downsized, and closed workplaces with a reference group unexposed to unemployment. We examined nationally representative register data of residents of Finland aged 25-63 years in 1990-2009 (n = 275,738). Compared with the control group, the hazard ratio for substance use-related mortality among men unemployed from stable workplaces was 2.43 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.22, 2.67), from downsized workplaces 1.85 (CI: 1.65, 2.08), and from closed workplaces 2.16 (CI: 1.84, 2.53). Among women, the corresponding estimates were 3.01 (CI: 2.42, 3.74), 2.39 (CI: 1.75, 3.27), and 1.47 (CI: 1.09, 1.99). Unemployment from stable workplaces was associated with mortality from psychiatric and self-harm-related conditions. However, mortality due to ischemic heart disease and other somatic diseases decreased for those unemployed following closure. The results indicate that selection mechanisms partially explain the excess mortality among the unemployed. However, substance-use outcomes among men and women, and fatal accidents and violence among men, might be causally associated with unemployment.

The Association Between Income and Psychotropic Drug Purchases: Individual Fixed Effects Analysis of Annual Longitudinal Data in 2003-2013.

BACKGROUND: Previous cross-sectional studies show that low income is associated with poor mental health. However, longitudinal research has produced varying results. We assess whether low income is associated with increased psychotropic drug use after accounting for confounding by observed time-varying, and unobserved stable individual differences. METHODS: The longitudinal register-based data comprises an 11% nationally representative random sample of Finnish residents aged 30-62 years between the years 2003 and 2013. The analytic sample includes 337,456 individuals (2,825,589 person-years). We estimate the association between annual income and psychotropic purchasing using ordinary-least-squares and fixed effects models, the latter controlling for all unobserved time-invariant individual characteristics. RESULTS: The annual prevalence of psychotropic purchasing was 15%; 13% among men and 18% among women. Adjusted for age squared, sex and calendar year, the doubling of income decreased the probability of purchases by 4 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 4,4) in the ordinary-least-squares model. We observed no association after further adjusting for observed sociodemographic characteristics and unobserved individual differences in the fixed effects specification. CONCLUSIONS: Following adjustment for an extensive set of confounders, no contemporaneous association between variations in annual individual income and psychotropic drug purchasing was observed. Similar results were obtained irrespective of baseline income level and sex. The results imply that indirect selection based on preexisting individual characteristics plays a major role in explaining the association between variations in income measured over the short term, and psychotropic drug purchases. The association appears largely attributable to unobserved, stable individual characteristics. See video abstract at, http://links.lww.com/EDE/B463.