Tea Lallukka

University of Helsinki | HY · Department of Public Health

Background: Pain conditions and poorer mental health are associated with work disability. However, few studies have examined the association of concurrent pain and poorer mental health with sickness absence among younger employees. We examined separate and joint associations of chronic pain, multisite pain, and mental health with total and long-te...

Objectives Unhealthy behaviours are associated with increased sickness absence (SA), but few studies have considered person-oriented approach in these associations. Using latent class analysis, we examined clustering of unhealthy behaviours among Finnish municipal employees and their associations with subsequent SA. Design A prospective register-l...

Background Occupational class inequalities in physical functioning and their changes after retirement are poorly understood. We examined occupational class trajectories in physical functioning 10 years before and after transition to old-age and disability retirement. We included working conditions and behavioural risk factors as covariates, given t...

Background: The gendered division of labour contributes to differences in the way time is spent and experienced by women and men. Time spent in paid and unpaid labour is associated with sleep outcomes, therefore, we examined (i) the relationships between time use and time pressure, and sleep, and (ii) whether these relationships were modified by g...

The Nordic countries offer an ideal case study of the COVID-19 pandemic due to their comparability, high data quality, and variable mitigations. We investigated the age- and sex-specific mortality patterns during 2020-2021 for the five Nordic countries and analysed the total age- and sex-adjusted excess deaths, ratios of actual to expected death ra...

Aim Our aim in this paper was to estimate the contribution of different parental specialised health care diagnoses to the subsequent risk of entry into the social assistance system for families with children in the period 1998–2013. Methods We used longitudinal population-level register data consisting of all children born in 1997 in Finland and t...

Objective: Previous literature has established associations between psychosocial working conditions and sickness absence (SA), but only few studies have examined associations among younger employees. This study aimed to investigate associations between psychosocial working conditions and SA among employees, aged 15-30 years, who entered the labor...

Aim Our aim in this paper is to quantify the contribution of different parental specialised health care diagnoses to the subsequent risk of entry into the social assistance system for families with children. Methods We used longitudinal population level register data consisting of all children born in 1997 in Finland and their registered parents (5...

The association between retirement and functioning remains still poorly known. This scoping review examines physical, social, cognitive, and mental functioning after retirement, describes the changes in them, determines the different aspects that affect functioning, and documents the main characteristics of the phenomenon. We systematically scoped...

Abstract Occupational class differences in leisure‐time physical activity (LTPA) are well recognized. Less is known about how these differences develop as individuals age, and how retirement is associated with this change. We investigated how occupational class differences in LTPA change in a cohort over a 15‐17 year follow‐up . We further examined...

Background: The Nordic countries are an ideal case study of the COVID-19 pandemic due to their comparability, high data quality, and variable responses. Excess mortality is a key metric but it is sensitive to data quality, model assumptions, and population structure, with diverse estimates published so far. Methods: We investigated the age- and sex...

Background Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic is of major scientific and political interest. Methods We critically reviewed different estimates of all-cause excess mortality for the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), which have been much studied during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the latest register d...

Background Unhealthy behaviours are associated with increased sickness absence (SA), but few studies have explored these associations using person-oriented approach. We aimed to identify latent classes of unhealthy behaviours among female and male employees and examined their associations with subsequent SA. Methods Health behaviours (leisure-time...

Background Longer work careers are discussed, but inequalities in health trajectories among employees facing retirement remain poorly understood. We examined social class trajectories in physical functioning among ageing female employees ten years before and after transition to old-age or disability retirement. Methods We used Helsinki Health Stud...

Background Both pain and mental illness associate with work disability. However, few studies have examined the association of concurrent pain and mental distress with sickness absence (SA). We examined separate and joint associations of chronic pain, multisite pain, and mental distress with total and long-term all-cause SA among young and midlife m...

Background: Adolescence psychiatric and neurodevelopmental diagnoses are common but their link to adulthood over-indebtedness is unknown. This study aims to determine this relationship and explores the possible mediating role of upper secondary education completion. Methods: We analyzed the 1987 Finnish Birth Cohort, which consisted of a complet...

To extend work careers, it is important to focus on all working-aged people including young adults. The aim of this study was to identify typical patterns of work participation among young adults after their first entry into the labour market and to examine whether the timing of entry together with parental and own socio-economic position and healt...

Background Heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of several chronic diseases. In this multicohort study, we estimated the number of life-years without major chronic diseases according to different characteristics of alcohol use. Methods In primary analysis, we pooled individual-level data from up to 129,942 adults across 12 cohort studies w...

Background: To characterize geospatial patterning of disadvantage in Sweden, we examined whether municipal-level indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage and disability pension (DP) rate were clustered, whether the different geospatial clusters were overlapping and whether the findings were similar among women and men. Methods: Administrative na...

Background Disadvantaged socioeconomic circumstances are associated with certain unhealthy food habits such as inadequate consumption of fruit and vegetables. This study examined whether multiple socioeconomic measures are consistently associated with a variety of food habits. Methods We examined associations of 2 childhood and 6 adult socioeconom...

Studies examining occupational class differences in burnout symptoms across employment sectors are scarce. The aim of this study was to examine whether occupational class is associated with emotional exhaustion, and whether there are differences in the examined associations between employment sectors. A further aim was to examine to which extent ps...

Sosioekonominen asema on keskeinen ruokatottumuksia määrittelevä tekijä. Työikäisessä väestössä alempi sosioekonominen asema on yhdistetty esimerkiksi vähäisempään kasvisten, hedelmien ja marjojen käyttöön sekä heikompaan kokonaisruokavalion laatuun. Ruokatottumusten sosioekonomisia eroja vanhuuseläkkeelle siirtymisen jälkeen on kuitenkin tutkittu...

Excess mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic are of major scientific and political interest. Here we review all-cause excess mortality estimates from different methods for the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), which have been much studied during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the comparison of the methods, we use si...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) have faced unprecedented workloads and personal health risks leading to mental disorders and surges in sickness absence. Previous work has shown that interindividual differences in psychological resilience might explain why only some individuals are vulnerable to these consequences. However, n...

Aims: Parental education and childhood adversities are associated with long-term work disability but their contribution to sickness absence is largely unknown. We aimed to examine the associations between parental education, childhood adversities and self-certified and medically-certified sickness absence among midlife employees. Methods: The He...

Aims: Fruit and vegetable consumption is essential in disease prevention. Socioeconomic differences in consumption have been observed but evidence from longitudinal studies incorporating multiple socioeconomic indicators is lacking. We examined long-term fruit and vegetable consumption trajectories and multiple socioeconomic circumstances as their...

Background Mental health is a public health issue for European young people, with great heterogeneity in resource allocation. Representative population-based studies are needed. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019 provides internationally comparable information on trends in the health status of populations and changes in the leading cause...

Objectives We applied a person-oriented approach and used latent class linear mixed models to identify sleep trajectories that explain memory, concentration, and learning ability problems after retirement. Methods Data consist of prospective surveys from four phases of the Helsinki Health Study between 2000–2017 (n = 3748, aged 55–77 years, 80% wo...

The clustering of social disadvantage with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in young adulthood is not well understood. We examined the clustering of ADHD with low educational attainment and unemployment in young adulthood; whether such clustering is stronger when unemployment is prolonged; and whether further clustering of disability...

Purpose Physical work exposures are associated with sickness absence among older employees. We aimed to examine if they similarly contribute to all-cause sickness absence during early and mid-careers. Methods We used questionnaire data on physical work exposures linked to register data on sickness absence from 3542 municipal employees aged 19–39 y...

Background Trajectory analyses are being increasingly used in efforts to increase understanding about the heterogeneity in the development of different longitudinal outcomes such as sickness absence, use of medication, income, or other time varying outcomes. However, several methodological and interpretational challenges are related to using trajec...

Aim The study aimed to critically review and synthesize the best available evidence about the effectiveness of therapist-guided internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) in terms of reducing sickness absence (SA). Methods We searched Medline (PubMed), Embase, PsycInfo, CINAHL, and Cochrane Central (up to November 2020) for English lan...

Background Pain is known to be socioeconomically patterned and associated with disability. However, knowledge is scarce concerning life-course socioeconomic circumstances and pain among young adults. Our aim was to examine the associations of childhood and current socioeconomic circumstances with acute pain and chronic pain with low and high disabi...

Työn fyysinen kuormittavuus on yhteydessä heikkoon fyysiseen toimintakykyyn keski-iän ylittäneillä työntekijöillä. Fyysisen toimintakyvyn ongelmia esiintyy myös nuoremmilla työntekijöillä, mutta heidän osaltaan työn fyysisen kuormittavuuden ja fyysisen toimintakyvyn yhteyttä ei ole tutkittu. Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, miten työn fyysinen kuo...

Background: To address the current COVID-19 and any future pandemic, we need a robust, real-time, and population-scale collection and analysis of data. Rapid and comprehensive knowledge on the trends in reported symptoms in populations provides an earlier window into the progressiong of the viral spread and helps to predict the needs and timing of...

BACKGROUND To address the current COVID-19 and any future pandemic, we need robust, real-time, and population-scale collection and analysis of data. Rapid and comprehensive knowledge on the trends in reported symptoms in populations provides an earlier window into the progression of viral spread, and helps to predict the needs and timing of profess...

Objective An intervention was carried out at the occupational healthcare services (OHS) of the City of Helsinki beginning in 2016. We investigated the association between the intervention and employee sick leaves using interrupted time series analysis. Design Register-based cohort study with a quasi-experimental study design. Setting Employees of...

Objective: We examined associations between working conditions and sickness absence due to mental disorders (LTSA-MD) among younger female public sector employees from different employment sectors. Methods: Survey data collected in 2017 (n = 3,048) among 19-39-year-old female employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland, were used to examine job d...

Background To address the current and any future pandemic, we need a robust, real-time and population-scale collection of data. Rapid and comprehensive knowledge on the trends in reported symptoms in populations provides an earlier window into our progress against the viral spread, and helps predict the need and timing of professional healthcare. W...

Background: The associations between adverse working conditions and mental disorders are well established. However, associations between adverse working conditions and poor mental health functioning is a less explored area. This study examines these associations among younger public sector employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland. Methods: We use...

Background: The aim was to identify working hours' trajectories in later work careers over a follow-up of 15-17 years and to examine their association with social factors and health. Methods: A subsample from the Helsinki Health Study was extracted comprising employees of the City of Helsinki, Finland. Growth mixture modelling was used to identi...

Objectives We examined whether frequent short-term sickness absence (FSTSA) and primary care use in occupational health service (OHS) were associated with medically-certified long-term sickness absence (LTSA) due to mental disorders among young employees. Methods We used record-linkage data covering the young employees (< 35 years) of the City of...

This study aimed to examine the associations of perceived physical and mental working conditions with subsequent antidepressant medication purchases among 18-39-year-old municipal employees. Survey data collected in 2017 among employees of the City of Helsinki (n=5897, response rate 51.5%) were linked to register data on psychotropic medication pur...

A substantial proportion of Australians report recurring pain and mental health problems, but their separate and joint contributions to sick leave use has not been examined. This study examines the interaction of pain and mental health problems with sick leave usage and the extent to which unobservable time-invariant factors contribute to these con...

Low back pain (LBP) patients undergoing lumbar spine decompression surgery (LSDS) often suffer from multi-comorbidity and experience high work disability. This study aimed to identify diagnosis-specific work disability patterns in all LBP-patients before and after LSDS during 2008–2010, that were aged 19–60 years and living in Sweden (n = 10,800) a...

Objectives To examine the association between cognitively stimulating work and subsequent risk of dementia and to identify protein pathways for this association. Design Multicohort study with three sets of analyses. Setting United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. Participants Three associations were examined: cognitive stimulation and dem...

Objective: To identify social and health-related predictors of the number of days lost due to sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP) among initially 55-year-old public-sector workers. Methods: The data from the Finnish Helsinki Health Study included participants aged 55 years at the baseline (in 2000-2002, N = 1630, 81% women), and wer...

The aim of this study was to investigate whether gender was an effect modifier of the relationship between three psychosocial job stressors and sleep quality, in a representative sample of 7280 employed Australians. We conducted linear regressions and effect measure modification analyses. Low job control, high job demands and low job security were...

Mental health problems are a major public health and work-life issue. We examined in a quasi-experimental design whether occupational health psychologist (OHP) appointment reduces subsequent sickness absence (SA) due to mental disorders among younger Finnish employees. The present study was conducted among 18–39-year-old employees of the City of He...

Aims: The aim of this study was to examine sickness absence and disability pension (SA/DP) during working lifespan among individuals diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and their matched references, accounting for sociodemographic factors. Methods: We used a register cohort of 78,040 individuals aged 19–60 years when diagnosed with CTS in s...

This study investigates to what extent pain in multiple sites and common risk factors related to work environment, occupational class and health behaviours are associated with cause-specific work disability (WD) development clusters. The study population was derived from the Finnish Helsinki Health Study (n = 2878). Sequence analysis created cluste...

Background and objectives: To extend work careers, it is important to focus on all working-agedpeople, including young adults. However, there is little knowledge about the stability of early careersand its life course social and health-related determinants. The aim of this study is to identify whatkind of typical patterns of work participation and...

Evidence remains unclear on how intergenerational social mobility is associated with body mass index (BMI) and its long-term changes. Our study identified BMI trajectories from middle to older age by intergenerational social mobility groups and stratified the analyses by gender and two birth cohorts (birth years 1940‒1947 and 1950–1962). We used qu...

Objective: This narrative review summarizes the available indicators for working life expectancy and years of working life lost (YWLL) and their determinants. Methods: We searched PubMed and Embase databases from their inception until August 2020 and screened all studies proposing an indicator for working life expectancy or YWLL. We also reviewed...

Sleep and functioning are associated with a risk of early workforce exit. However, patterns of change in sleep and functioning through time have not been investigated using person-oriented approaches to show what features of sleep and functioning are associated with an early exit. We examined the pattern of interactions between sleep and health fun...

Aims: Chronic pain is a notable burden on public health, with past and present factors contributing to it. This study aimed to examine the associations between childhood adversities and chronic pain. Methods: Data on seven childhood adversities, chronic pain and disabling pain were derived from questionnaire surveys conducted in 2000, 2001 and 2002...

Background Whether clustering of social disadvantage in young adulthood is associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is poorly understood. We examined clustering of ADHD with low educational attainment and unemployment in young adulthood; whether such clustering is stronger when unemployment was prolonged; and whether further...

We studied whether implementing binding ergonomic shift‐scheduling rules change ageing (≥45 years) social and healthcare employees’ (mean age 52.5 years, 95% women) working‐hour characteristics (e.g. weekly working hours, number and length of night shifts, and short shift intervals) and sleep. We compared an intervention group (n = 253) to a contro...

It is not well known how the timing of entry into paid employment and physical work exposures contribute to different health outcomes in young employees. Thus, we determined the associations of age at entry into paid employment and physical work exposures with general and mental health in young employees and determined whether associations differ b...

Background: Rigorous analysis oflevels and trends in exposure to leading risk factors and quantifiation of their effct on human health are important to identify where public health is making progress and in which cases current effrts are inadequate. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a standardised a...

Objective: To determine the effects of early entry into the labour market and physicality of work in young adulthood on the development of obesity and unhealthy lifestyle habits later in life. Methods: This study is a part of the Young Finns Study. Entry into the labour market and physicality of work were measured at baseline, when participants we...

Background A rising number of women will go through menopause while working. We aimed to examine the association of menopausal status with multisite pain and pain interfering with work ability. Methods We analysed cross sectional data collected in the Helsinki Health Study. Female full-time municipal employees aged 45, 50, 55 or 60 years and of at...

Background Mental ill-health in young adults is a major public health and work-life problem. We examined in a quasi-experimental design whether occupational psychologist appointment can reduce subsequent sickness absence due to mental disorders among young Finnish employees. Methods The present study was conducted among 18-39-year-old employees of...

Purpose: Physical work exposures and common mental disorders (CMD) have been linked to increased risk of work disability, but their joint associations with disability retirement due to any cause, mental disorders or musculoskeletal diseases have not been examined. Methods: The data for exposures and covariates were from the Finnish Helsinki Heal...