Semi-Skilled Workers: Work, Health and Disability Pension, 1986

In recent years, a high death rate among unskilled workers and an increase in the number of semi-skilled workers who retire on disability pension have been observed. The reasons for this are not known. Danish surveys on disability pensioners and foreign surveys on risk factors associated with a high incidence of diseases show a higher incidence of certain factors related to upbringing, working conditions, living conditions and behaviour among the social groups which mainly comprise semi-skilled workers. # The purpose of this survey was to examine the incidence of a number of factors as well as the correlation between these factors and certain health measures and disability pension, and also to examine, in retrospect, certain 'duration factors', especially the factors which ultimately lead to an application for disability pension. # The analysis of the results aims at evaluating certain correlations and possible causal connections in order to increase our knowledge about the possibilities of improving life quality, of preventing so many people from retiring on disability pension, and of extending the average duration of life of semi-skilled workers. # The results of the survey will be compared with the results of other surveys which have also been carried out by the Institute of Community Medicine at Odense University on grants from the Danish Health Insurance Foundation (Sygekassernes Helsefond). This survey is a continuation of the surveys on disability pensioners which were carried out earlier on grants from the Danish Health Insurance Foundation. # The survey is a case-control survey in which the case group comprises male members of the Union of Semi-Skilled Workers in Denmark (Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark - SiD) who had been awarded middle or highest disability pension in the period 1 January, 1984 till 1 March, 1986 and in which the control group comprises men of the same age who are members of the SiD