Occupational Medicine & Health Affairs
Open Access

Abstract

Introduction: Over the recent years the problem of an ageing society has been a topical subject to widespread debate. According to the data from the 2010 European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS 2010) only 61% of Polish older workers would be able to continue working at the age of 60. The basic condition which renders a professional activity possible is ability to perform work tasks. Individual decisions to cease this activity are, to a large extent, dependent on the subjective assessment of inability to work. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire survey covered 598 men and 469 women over 50 years of age employed in a number of sectors, i.e. administration, industrial processing, trade, construction as well as health care and social care. The respondents assessed their workability by filling in a questionnaire designed to assess Work Ability Index (WAI). They characterised their work in terms of psychosocial and physical work requirements, lifestyle, chronic fatigue and mental health. The multiple logistic regression model was used to assess an influence of the examined factors on the risk of occurrence of low or moderate work ability. Results: Polish older workers were found to have good (44.4%), moderate (36.4%) or excellent (13.4%) work ability. A statistically significant correlation was found between work ability and the type of work and education. Drawing on the analysis of logistic regression, it was concluded that with the deterioration of older workersâ�� mental health (-0.11�±002), the increased priority of work (-0.14�±0.03) and the increased frequency with which older workers resort to the over-the-counter medications (0.09�±0.04), their work ability tended to deteriorate. In turn, increased absenteeism (0.77�±0.09) and an increased level of supervision over the work performed (0.03�±0.01) was found to have a positive effect on work ability.

Biography

Email: mamal@ciop.pl