Morten Wahrendorf

Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf | HHU · Institute of Medical Sociology

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Studie prüft auf der Basis der Daten der deutschen Teilstichprobe der europäischen Unternehmenserhebung über neue und aufkommende Risiken (ESENER) aus den Jahren 2014 und 2019 den Zusammenhang zwischen der Güte der betrieblichen Arbeitsschutzorganisation und der Umsetzung einer Gefährdungsbeurteilung. Zur Bestimmung...

Objectives: SARS-CoV-2 infections were unequally distributed during the pandemic, with those in disadvantaged socioeconomic positions being at higher risk. Little is known about the underlying mechanism of this association. This study assessed to what extent educational differences in SARS-CoV-2 infections were mediated by working from home. Metho...

Berufsbedingte Unterschiede in COVID-19-Erkrankungen – Eine wellenspezifische Analyse von 3,17 Millionen gesetzlich Versicherten Zielstellung: Bisherige Ergebnisse zu berufsbedingten Unterschieden im COVID-19-Infektionsrisiko sind heterogen. Ein Grund dafür könnten die unterschiedlichen Beobachtungszeiträume bisheriger Studien sein. Wellen­spezifi...

Background Evidence on socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 outcomes largely rests on ecological studies. Only few studies investigated inequalities in different COVID-19 outcomes prospectively on an individual level. We therefore conducted an analysis of German health insurance data to assess socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 incidence and...

Informal care plays an important role in the provision of care. However, previous research has mainly focused on middle-or older-aged informal carers and less is known about informal care among young adults, its consequences on educational achievement and employment transitions and whether this varies across country contexts. Using data from the 20...

Die Infektionsrisiken in verschiedenen Berufs- und Personengruppen während der Covid-19-Pandemie sind Gegenstand dieses Kurzberichts. Für die Analyse werten wir repräsentative Infektionsdaten der RKI-SOEP-2-Studie aus, die zwischen November 2021 und Februar 2022 erhoben wurden, und untersuchen berufsbedingte Risikofaktoren. Die betrachteten Berufsg...

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, occupation was assumed to play a central role in the occurrence of infection and disease. For Germany, however, there are only a few studies that analyse occupational differences in risk of COVID-19, COVID-19-associated hospitalisation, and mortality. Methods: The study uses longitudinal health insuran...

Background Studies show that a disadvantaged socioeconomic position (SEP) and psychosocial stress at work are both independently associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). But it is not clear if the effect of stress at work on CVD varies by SEP. Methods We used baseline and follow-up data from the French population-based co...

Research from a range of disciplines highlights the need to adopt a life course perspective that considers earlier life courses to explain outcomes in later life (e.g. later life health, cognitive ageing or retirement behaviour). This includes a more comprehensive assessment of earlier life courses over time and of how they are shaped by societal a...

Hintergrund Die COVID-19 Pandemie betrifft Menschen in verschiedenen soziökonomischen Positionen ungleich schwer, wie mittlerweile zahlreiche nationale und internationale wissenschaftliche Publikationen für verschiedene direkte und indirekte Gesundheitsfolgen gezeigt haben. Demnach tragen sozial benachteiligte Menschen nicht nur ein höheres Risiko...

Background Studies document that adults in disadvantaged socio-economic positions have elevated risks of a severe course of COVID-19, but it is unclear if this holds true for children. We investigate in this population-based study whether young people from socio-economically disadvantaged households in Germany had a higher risk of COVID-19 hospital...

Importance Adults in disadvantaged socioeconomic positions have elevated risks of a severe course of COVID-19, but it is unclear whether this holds true for children. Objective To investigate whether young people from disadvantaged households have a higher risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and whether differences were associated with comorbidities...

Objectives: International evidence of socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 outcomes is extensive and growing, but less is known about the temporal dynamics of these inequalities over the course of the pandemic. Methods: We systematically searched the Embase and Scopus databases. Additionally, several relevant journals and the reference lists of a...

Innerhalb der medizinsoziologischen Forschung nehmen Analysen zu sozialen Determinanten von Gesundheit und Krankheit einen wichtigen Platz ein. Angesichts der Zentralität der Erwerbsrolle in modernen Gesellschaften kommt dem Einfluss von Arbeit und Beschäftigung eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Das Kapitel fasst wesentliche Inhalte und Entwicklungsschr...

Background Regional labour markets and their properties are named as potential reasons for regional variations in levels of SARS-CoV-2 infections rates, but empirical evidence is missing. Methods Using nationwide data on notified laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections, we calculated weekly age-standardised incidence rates (ASIRs) for working-a...

Background Employees have witnessed rising trend in work stress over the last few decades. However, we know a little about country differences in those trends. Our article fills this gap in the literature by examining heterogeneities in trends in working conditions by country groups defined by their amount of investment into labor market policy (LM...

Background Regional labour markets and their properties are named as potential reasons for regional variations in SARS-CoV-2 infections rates, but empirical evidence is missing. Methods Using notification data on laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections, we calculated weekly age-standardised incidence rates (ASIRs) for working-age populations at...

Background: Job instability and disadvantaged work were shown to be associated with poor mental health, but few studies analyzed these conditions in a life course perspective. In this study, adverse employment histories are retrospectively assessed and linked to self-reported depression. Furthermore, indirect effects of later stressful psychosocia...

Background: Most studies on the health impact of occupational stress use single-point measures of stress at work. This study analyses the associations of properties of entire employment trajectories over an extended time period with a composite score of allostatic load (AL). Methods: Data come from the French CONSTANCES cohort, with information...

Over the course of the second pandemic wave in late 2020, new infections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 shifted from the most affluent to the most deprived regions of Germany. This study investigated how this trend in infections played out for deaths due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by examining area-level socio-econ...

Hintergrund und Ziel: Ob sozioökonomische Faktoren die Ausbreitung von SARS-CoV‑2 beeinflussen, ist nicht ausreichend beantwortet, da frühere Studien in der Regel kumulative Inzidenzen betrachtet und die zeitliche Entwicklung der Ausbreitung außer Acht gelassen haben. Dieser Beitrag konzentriert sich daher auf die Entwicklung von regionalen Neuinfe...

Work and family roles entail divergent responsibilities, which can be a source of conflict especially in young adulthood – the so-called “rush-hour” of life. Combining these multiple social roles can result in an accumulation of stress but also be a valuable resource for mental health. The aim of this study is to investigate combined employment, pa...

Background: Research suggests that areas with high unemployment have lower rates of sickness absence, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. One assumption is that when unemployment is high people are more likely to work while being sick (discipline hypothesis). Against this background, we investigate the association between regional unemplo...

Objective The rapid transformation of labor markets has been accompanied by the belief of rising stress at work. However, empirical evidence on such trends based on reliable survey data is scarce. This study analyzes long-term trends in well-established measures of work stressors across Europe, as well as potential occupational differences. Method...

Background: Employees in a low socio-economic position (SEP) are more likely to leave the labour market after medical rehabilitation for health reasons than those in a better social position. So far, almost nothing is known about whether certain types of rehabilitative care can reduce this inequality in rehabilitation success. This paper examines...

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund und Ziel Arbeitslosigkeit steht in Zusammenhang mit Armut und ist ein Risikofaktor für schlechte Gesundheit. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, ob Arbeitslosigkeit das Risiko für einen COVID-19-bedingten Krankenhausaufenthalt für Männer und Frauen im erwerbsfähigen Alter in Deutschland erhöht. Methoden Die Auswertunge...

We investigate associations between adverse employment histories over time and health functioning in later life, and explore moderation by national labor market policies. Harmonized life history data come from two studies, SHARE and ELSA, with health beyond age 50 (men= 11,621; women= 10,999). Adverse employment histories consist of precarious, dis...

Resources related to a good work-life balance may play an important role for the mental health of workers with involuntary working hours. This study investigates whether involuntary part-time (i.e., working part-time, but preferring full-time work) and involuntary full-time work (i.e., working full-time, but preferring part-time work) are associate...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Social epidemiological research describes correlations between socioeconomic status and the population's risk to become diseased or die. Little research of such correlations for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 has so far been conducted. This scoping review provides an overview of the international research literature. Out of the 138 publications found, 46...

Experiences with acute respiratory diseases which caused virus epidemics in the past and initial findings in the research literature on the current COVID-19 pandemic suggest a higher SARS-CoV-2 infection risk for socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Nevertheless, further research on such a potential association between socioeconomic status...

Background: Many studies have shown that work stressors have a negative impact on health. It is therefore important to gain an understanding of how work stressors can be reduced. Recent studies have shown that employees in countries with high investments into labour market policies less often report exposure to work stressors. Although these studi...

Die Erfahrungen aus vergangenen Epidemien mit viralen Erregern akuter Atemwegserkrankungen und erste Hinweise aus der Forschungsliteratur zur aktuellen COVID-19-Pandemie deuten darauf hin, dass sozioökonomisch benachteiligte Menschen ein höheres Risiko für eine Infektion mit SARS-CoV-2 haben könnten. Dieser mögliche Zusammenhang zwischen dem sozioö...

Die sozialepidemiologische Forschung beschreibt den Zusammenhang zwischen dem sozioökonomischen Status und den Krankheits- und Sterberisiken der Menschen. Ob und wie sich dieser Zusammenhang in Bezug auf eine SARS-CoV-2-Infektion beziehungsweise COVID-19-Erkrankung darstellt ist noch wenig erforscht. Das vorliegende Scoping Review gibt einen Überbl...

Dieses Papier soll aufzeigen, wie die verschiedenen Empfehlungen zur Minderung gesundheitlicher Folgen der COVID-19-Pandemie durch Integration und Orientierung an einer Ressort-übergreifenden Politik zur Stärkung von Gesundheit, nachhaltiger gesellschaftlicher Entwicklung und Umweltschutz beitragen können. - Die weitreichenden, verschiedenen Lebe...

This paper aims at demonstrating how the different recommendations towardsmitigating the health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic can improve population health as well as sustainable societal and environmental development through integrated and whole-system-oriented action. - As the far-reaching challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic threaten differen...

Background: Previous research on infectious disease has revealed that infection risk as well as the severity of diseases is related to income and poverty. In this study we investigate if unemployed persons have a higher risk to become hospitalized with a COVID-19 diagnosis compared with employed persons. Methods: We used routine data on hospitaliza...

Accumulated evidence on health-adverse effects of stressful psychosocial and physical work environments is considered a major breakthrough in recent social epidemiological research. However, research on adverse health effects of repeated exposure over time is lacking. In this contribution we analyse associations of characteristics of adverse employ...

Unwanted sexual attention (UWSA) and sexual harassment (SH) are prevalent experiences for women in working life and often accompanied by poor health. Despite increasing numbers especially of young people working in insecure and irregular employment settings, there is little empirical evidence if such precarious arrangements are associated with UWSA...

Introduction There is strong evidence for the importance of previous employment for mental health at older age but little is known about the role of partner’s employment history in this. Life course theory suggests that individual trajectories are linked and evidence from cross-sectional studies suggest that there are cross-over effects within coup...

Objectives: We investigate associations between adverse employment histories over an extended time period and health functioning in later life, and explore whether national labor market policies moderate the association. Methods: We use harmonized life history data from the Gateway to Global Aging Data on two European studies (SHARE and ELSA) li...

Background: Given limited knowledge on the extent of social inequalities in longer-term work ability of people with a chronic disease, this study analyzes social inequalities of three consecutive indicators of work ability following medical rehabilitation in a large sample of insured employees. Methods: Based on data from the German statutory pe...

Aims: Research has established solid evidence that socioeconomic position impacts health. It is, however, still debated to what extent characteristics of entire employment histories are associated with health inequalities later on. This study investigates associations between contributing to pension schemes throughout entire employment histories an...

Bis zum Jahr 2050 wird es etwa 23 Millionen über 65-Jährige in Deutschland geben. Dadurch wird es gesellschaftlich wie individuell zunehmend notwendig, gute Voraussetzungen für das Rentenalter als Lebensphase zu schaffen. Um es bei guter Gesundheit und Lebensqualität zu verbringen, sollte bereits die Zeit vor dem Übergang zur Vorbereitung genutzt w...

Objectives To examine the association between effort–reward imbalance and incident long-term benzodiazepine use (LTBU). Methods We included 31 077 employed participants enrolled in the French population-based CONSTANCES cohort between 2012 and 2014 who had not undergone LTBU in the 2 years before enrolment. LTBU was examined using drug reimburseme...

Compared with age-matched employees, university students report higher levels of chronic stress and this may affect their decision-making. The impact of chronic stress and physiological reactivity upon cognitive function is receiving more attention, but few studies have empirically assessed the associations of these variables concurrently. Our aim...

European employees are increasingly likely to work in cases of illness (sickness presenteeism, SP). Past studies found inconsistent evidence for the assumption that temporary workers decide to avoid taking sick leave due to job insecurity. A new measure to identify decision-based determinants of SP is presenteeism propensity (PP), which is the numb...

Collecting life course data is increasingly common in social and epidemiological research, either through record linkage of administrative data or by collecting retrospective interview data. This paper uses data on employment histories collected through both strategies, compares the attained samples, and investigates levels of agreements of individ...

Purpose Despite its importance a comprehensive assessment of health functioning has rarely been included in epidemiological investigations of work-related health outcomes. In this study, we analyzed associations of a health-adverse psychosocial work environment with a comprehensive set of subjective and objective measures of health functioning that...

Background To further explain the association between low socioeconomic position and increased risk of poor health, research started to consider life course conditions, including previous occupational positions and patterns of social mobility in the analysis. We describe patterns of intragenerational social mobility and investigate their associatio...

Objectives: The paper identifies types of work-family trajectories of men and women and investigates their links with depression at older age. Method: We use data from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall study, with retrospective information on employment histories and parenthood between age 20 and 50 (1482 men and 1537 women, born between 1925 and 1955). We...

Background The efforts to extend working lives are accompanied by the question of whether it is possible for all employees to work longer for health reasons. Existing studies show for example that particularly workers in a lower socioeconomic position have a comparatively higher risk to prematurely retire. It is therefore likely that an increase of...

Background: With changing employment histories in European labour markets, occupational health research needs to be supplemented by an approach that integrates adverse characteristics of entire employment histories, in terms of precarious, discontinued and disadvantaged employment careers. We analyse associations of adverse employment histories an...

Studies have linked home ownership with health at older ages, but few studies have summarized entire housing histories and tested their links to health at older ages. This paper uses residential life history data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with annual housing information from age 15 up until age 60 (renting o...

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationships between critical employment histories and health and well-being in later life, using longitudinal studies of ageing in England and continental Europe. In particular we explore whether specific career characteristics of entire working histories (i.e. involuntary job loss, number and length of une...

Zusammenfassung Bei der Suche nach den Ursachen für kardiovaskuläre Erkrankungen im Alter unterstreicht die aktuelle epidemiologische Forschung die Bedeutung früherer Lebensphasen, einschließlich Stresserfahrungen während der Kindheit und Jugend. Dazu zählen beispielsweise Konflikte in der Familie, Misshandlungen, traumatische Erlebnisse, emotional...

Objectives: Working more (overemployment) or less (underemployment) than preferred has been associated with poor mental health in cross-sectional studies, but longitudinal evidence is scarce. We investigate whether under- and overemployment is associated with 2-year changes of mental health and whether associations vary by job rewards (i.e. high e...

Young workers are in particular need of occupational safety and health (OSH) services, but it is unclear whether they have the necessary access to such services. We compared young with older workers in terms of the access to and awareness of OSH services, and examined if differences in employment conditions accounted for age-differences. We used su...

Purpose: We aim to extend current knowledge on associations between stressful work and sickness absence, first, by studying associations between ERI and sickness absence among full-time employees from various occupations, and second, by investigating if associations vary by age. Methods: We use data from four waves of the German socio-economic p...

This chapter is an entry-level introduction to sequence analysis, which is a set of techniques for exploring sequential quantitative data such as those contained in life histories. We illustrate the benefits of the approach, discuss its links with the life course perspective, and underline its importance for studying personal histories and trajecto...

Objectives There is now convincing evidence that psychosocial work stressors are linked to depression. Few studies, however, have tested if individual resources can buffer the longitudinal effects of psychosocial work stressors on depressive symptoms. This study investigates how two types of resources (internal and external resources) affect the as...