Joint Association of Overweight and Common Mental Disorders With Diagnosis-Specific Disability Retirement: A Follow-Up Study Among Female and Male Employees.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the joint association of overweight and CMDs (common mental disorders) with diagnosis-specific disability retirement among midlife employees.

METHODS: Baseline surveys (n = 8960, response rate 67%) were linked with registers of the Finnish Centre of Pensions. We calculated the hazard ratios (HRs) for disability retirement due to any, musculoskeletal, and mental diagnoses according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) with Cox regression analysis (mean follow-up 8.3 years) among normal-weight (body mass index 18.5 to 25 kg/m) and overweight (≥25 kg/m) participants with or without CMD (General Health Questionnaire-12 score ≥3).

RESULTS: Overweight was associated with disability retirement due to any and musculoskeletal diagnoses and CMD with any and mental diagnoses. The risk for disability retirement was additively higher for those with both overweight and CMD.

CONCLUSION: Preventing overweight and CMD, and especially considering those with both conditions simultaneously, likely helps maintain work ability.