Mikko Laaksonen
Biographic Data
| ID | 1267722 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mikko Laaksonen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mikko |
| FAMILY NAME | Laaksonen |
| SIGNATURE | LAAKSONEN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Helsinki |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6979-9872 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 204 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 41 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Identifying labour market pathways after a 30-day-long sickness absence –a three-year sequence analysis study in Finland
Among long-term sickness absentees, clear groups can be identified with both differing labour market pathways after LTSA and differing backgrounds. Lower socioeconomic background, pre-LTSA chronic diseases and LTSA caused by mental disorders increase the likelihood for pathways dominated by long-term unemployment, disability pensioning and rehabilitation rather than rapid RTW. LTSA based on a mental disorder can especially increase the likelihood…
Trajectories in physical functioning by occupational class among retiring women: The significance of type of retirement and social and health-related factors
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 their established link to health and retirement. METHODS: We used the Helsinki Health Study cohort d…
Changes in Unemployment Affect Sickness Absence and Disability Retirement Rates: A Municipality-Level Panel Study
To enhance understanding of the interplay between unemployment and sickness absence and disability retirement, the aim of this study was to examine how changes in area-level unemployment rates are associated with changes in sickness absence and disability retirement rates in a longitudinal setting. Municipality-level time-series data were collected on unemployment, sickness absence, disability retirement and covariates from databases for Finnish …
Work Resumption after a Fixed-Term Disability Pension: Changes over Time during a Period of Decreasing Incidence of Disability Retirement
The incidence of disability retirement in Finland has sharply decreased over the last ten years. At the same time, the share of fixed-term pensions has increased to cover more than half of all new disability pensions. This study examined the efficiency of fixed-term disability pensions under these changing circumstances with the aim of addressing the following research questions: are fixed-term disability pensions more often converted to permanen…
The Level and Development of Unemployment before Disability Retirement: A Retrospective Study of Finnish Disability Retirees and Their Controls
A weakening work ability may lead to a higher risk of gradual exclusion from working life, which may be manifested in increasing levels of unemployment. This study examined development of unemployment prior to disability retirement by educational level and occupational class in different diagnostic groups. The study population comprised 70% of Finnish residents aged 25-64 years who retired due to disability in 2011-2015 (n = 54,387). Growth curve…
Factors associated with health survey response among young employees: A register-based study using online, mailed and telephone interview data collection methods
Despite a general representativeness of data of the target population, socioeconomically more disadvantaged and those with long sickness absence, are slightly overrepresented among non-respondents. This suggests that when studying the associations between social factors and health, the associations can be weaker than if complete data were available representing all socioeconomic groups
From long-term sickness absence to disability retirement: Diagnostic and occupational class differences within the working-age Finnish population
The association between LTSA and disability retirement varies between diagnostic groups, and the strength of this association further depends on the person's occupational class and gender
Socio-economic differences in retirement timing and participation in post-retirement employment in a context of a flexible pension age
Socio-economic circumstances influence later-life employment participation, which may take different forms as retirement processes are complex. We aimed to explore the diverse effects of various socio-economic sub-domains on pre- and post-retirement employment. We used Finnish register data to examine socio-economic predictors of time to retirement ( i.e. receiving the statutory pension) using Cox regression analysis and on time spent in post-ret…
Eculizumab improves fatigue in refractory generalized myasthenia gravis
Compared with placebo, eculizumab was associated with improvements in perceived fatigue that strongly correlated with improvements in MG-specific outcome measures. Trial ID Registration: NCT01997229, NCT02301624
Workforce Composition and the Risk of Labor Market Exit Among Older Workers in Finnish Companies
This article investigates how a firm’s workforce characteristics affect an individual’s timing of exit from the labor market. It analyzes the relations between the age, skill, and wage structures of companies and the risk of labor market exit of Finnish older workers by using the detailed longitudinal register-based Finnish Linked Employer–Employee Data. The study follows the Finnish working population born between 1942 and 1950 (N = 216,713). Mu…
Childhood determinants for early psychiatric disability pension: A 10-year follow-up study of the 1987 Finnish Birth Cohort
Background: Mental disorders can affect work ability and lead to early exit from the labour market through disability pension. Aims: This study aimed to identify childhood determinants of psychiatric disability pension in early adulthood. Methods: The 1987 Finnish Birth Cohort includes a complete census of children born in a single year. The children were followed up from birth until 31 December 2012 using official registers maintained by the Fin…
Physical and mental health functioning after all-cause and diagnosis-specific sickness absence: A register-linkage follow-up study among ageing employees
Sickness absence showed a persistent adverse stepwise association with subsequent physical and mental health functioning. Evidence on health-related outcomes after long-term sickness absence may provide useful information for targeted interventions to promote health and workability
Health as a predictor of early retirement before and after introduction of a flexible statutory pension age in Finland
Contrary to the expectations of the Finnish pension reform aimed at extending working lives, offering choice with respect to the timing of retirement may actually encourage healthy workers to choose earlier retirement regardless of the provided economic incentives for continuing in work
Multiple socioeconomic determinants of weight gain: The Helsinki Health Study
Current economic difficulties among both women and men, and among women low education and renting, were associated with weight gain. Prevention of weight gain among ageing people would benefit from focusing in particular on those with economic difficulties
The changing relationship between income and mortality in Finland, 1988–2007
BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic mortality differences have increased in many high-income countries in recent decades mainly because of slower mortality decline among the lower social groups. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the changing socio-demographic composition explains the increasing disparity in mortality by income and the stagnation of mortality in the lowest income group. METHODS: The register data comprised a nationally repres…
Work-family conflicts and subsequent sleep medication among women and men: A longitudinal registry linkage study
Working conditions as risk factors for disability retirement: A longitudinal register linkage study
Among various working conditions, those that are physically demanding and those that imply low job control are potential risk factors for disability retirement. Improving the physical working environment and enhancing control over one's job is likely to help prevent early retirement due to disability
Twenty-five year trends in body mass index by education and income in Finland
No overall change in the socio-economic differences of BMI was observed in Finland between 1978 and 2002. However, the trends of BMI diverged in sub-groups of the studied population: the most prominent increase in BMI took place in high income men with low education and in low income men with high education. The results encourage further research on the pathways between income, education, living conditions and the increasing BMI
Trends in life expectancy by income from 1988 to 2007: Decomposition by age and cause of death
BACKGROUND: Less attention has been paid to mortality trends across income groups than those measured by other socioeconomic indicators. This study assessed the change in life expectancy by income over 20 years in the Finnish general population. METHODS: Life expectancy among 35-year-olds by household income quintiles was studied. Change in life expectancy from 1988-92 to 2003-7 was decomposed by age and cause of death. The dataset contained 754,…
Workplace bullying and common mental disorders: A follow-up study
BACKGROUND: Workplace bullying has been associated with mental health, but longitudinal studies confirming the association are lacking. This study examined the associations of workplace bullying with subsequent common mental disorders 5-7 years later, taking account of baseline common mental disorders and several covariates. METHODS: Baseline questionnaire survey data were collected in 2000-2002 among municipal employees, aged 40-60 years (n=8960…
Past and present socioeconomic circumstances and psychotropic medication: A register-linkage study
BACKGROUND: Various domains of socioeconomic circumstances are associated with self-reported mental health, but we lack evidence from studies using medically confirmed mental health outcomes. This longitudinal study aimed to examine the associations of multiple domains of socioeconomic circumstances with subsequent prescribed psychotropic medication among Finnish public sector employees. METHODS: Baseline survey data among 40-60-year-old employee…
Changes of occupational class differences in physical functioning: A panel study among employees (2000–2007)
BACKGROUND: Panel studies on changes of occupational class differences in health have given varying results. The aim of this study was to examine changes of occupational class differences in physical functioning and the factors that explain these changes. METHODS: A cohort of middle-aged employees of the City of Helsinki was followed up for an average of 6 years in two surveys from 2000-2002 and 2007. Hierarchical linear random effects models wer…
Household economic resources, labour-market advantage and health problems - A study on causal relationships using prospective register data
Explaining occupational class differences in sickness absence: Results from middle-aged municipal employees
OBJECTIVES: Low socioeconomic position is consistently associated with higher rates of sickness absence. We aimed to examine whether working conditions, health-related behaviours and family-related factors explain occupational class differences in medically certified sickness absence. METHODS: The study included 5470 women and 1464 men employees of the City of Helsinki, surveyed in 2000-2002. These data were prospectively linked to sickness absen…
The associations of household wealth and income with self-rated health - A study on economic advantage in middle-aged Finnish men and women
Socioeconomic Position and Self-Rated Health: The Contribution of Childhood Socioeconomic Circumstances, Adult Socioeconomic Status, and Material Resources
Objectives. We examined socioeconomic inequalities in self-rated health by analyzing indicators of childhood socioeconomic circumstances, adult socioeconomic position, and current material resources. Methods. We collected data on middle-aged adults employed by the City of Helsinki (n=8970; 67% response rate). Associations between 7 socioeconomic indicators and health self-ratings of less than “good” were examined with sequential logistic regressi…
Trends in life expectancy by income from 1988 to 2007: Decomposition by age and cause of death
BACKGROUND: Less attention has been paid to mortality trends across income groups than those measured by other socioeconomic indicators. This study assessed the change in life expectancy by income over 20 years in the Finnish general population. METHODS: Life expectancy among 35-year-olds by household income quintiles was studied. Change in life expectancy from 1988-92 to 2003-7 was decomposed by age and cause of death. The dataset contained 754,…
Multiple measures of socioeconomic circumstances and common mental disorders
Housing wealth and mortality: A register linkage study of the Finnish population
The associations of household wealth and income with self-rated health - A study on economic advantage in middle-aged Finnish men and women
Job control, job demands, or social class? The impact of working conditions on the relation between social class and health
Background: The aim of the study was to investigate (1) how much of the association between health and social class is accounted by psychosocial working conditions, and (2) whether health is related to working conditions after controlling for social class. Methods: The data derive from the surveys of the Helsinki health study, collected in 2000, 2001, and 2002 from 40–60 year old employees working for the City of Helsinki (n = 8970, response rate…
Influence of material and behavioural factors on occupational class differences in health
Objective: To examine material and behavioural factors as explanations for occupational class differences in health, while taking into account the interrelations between these two groups of factors. Methods: Data from cross sectional surveys among middle aged women and men employed by the City of Helsinki (n = 6062, response rate 68%) were used. The contribution of four material and seven behavioural factors to occupational class differences in s…
Household economic resources, labour-market advantage and health problems - A study on causal relationships using prospective register data
Home ownership and mortality: A register-based follow-up study of 300 000 Finns
BACKGROUND: This study examined whether living in rented housing is associated with increased all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and whether the association between home ownership and mortality can be explained by household income, occupational class, and educational level. METHODS: A random sample including every seventh Finn aged 40-80 years at the end of 1997 (N = 308 291) was derived from the population register of Finland. The sample wa…
Associations of childhood circumstances with physical and mental functioning in adulthood
Income and health behaviours. Evidence from monitoring surveys among Finnish adults
Study objective: To examine the associations of individual and household income with various health behaviours, before and after adjusting for educational attainment and occupational social class. Design and Setting: Data from 19 982 respondents to nationwide health behaviour surveys from 1993 to 1999 (response rate 70%) were linked with socioeconomic information from population registers. Measurements: The income measures were total individual i…
Comparing the effects of neighbourhood characteristics on all-cause mortality using two hierarchical areal units in the capital region of Helsinki
The contribution of lone parenthood and economic difficulties to smoking
Socio-economic differences in retirement timing and participation in post-retirement employment in a context of a flexible pension age
Socio-economic circumstances influence later-life employment participation, which may take different forms as retirement processes are complex. We aimed to explore the diverse effects of various socio-economic sub-domains on pre- and post-retirement employment. We used Finnish register data to examine socio-economic predictors of time to retirement ( i.e. receiving the statutory pension) using Cox regression analysis and on time spent in post-ret…
Social class differences in health behaviours among employees from Britain, Finland and Japan: The influence of psychosocial factors
Health as a predictor of early retirement before and after introduction of a flexible statutory pension age in Finland
Contrary to the expectations of the Finnish pension reform aimed at extending working lives, offering choice with respect to the timing of retirement may actually encourage healthy workers to choose earlier retirement regardless of the provided economic incentives for continuing in work
The changing relationship between income and mortality in Finland, 1988–2007
BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic mortality differences have increased in many high-income countries in recent decades mainly because of slower mortality decline among the lower social groups. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the changing socio-demographic composition explains the increasing disparity in mortality by income and the stagnation of mortality in the lowest income group. METHODS: The register data comprised a nationally repres…
Workforce Composition and the Risk of Labor Market Exit Among Older Workers in Finnish Companies
This article investigates how a firm’s workforce characteristics affect an individual’s timing of exit from the labor market. It analyzes the relations between the age, skill, and wage structures of companies and the risk of labor market exit of Finnish older workers by using the detailed longitudinal register-based Finnish Linked Employer–Employee Data. The study follows the Finnish working population born between 1942 and 1950 (N = 216,713). Mu…
Work-family conflicts and subsequent sleep medication among women and men: A longitudinal registry linkage study
Workplace bullying and common mental disorders: A follow-up study
BACKGROUND: Workplace bullying has been associated with mental health, but longitudinal studies confirming the association are lacking. This study examined the associations of workplace bullying with subsequent common mental disorders 5-7 years later, taking account of baseline common mental disorders and several covariates. METHODS: Baseline questionnaire survey data were collected in 2000-2002 among municipal employees, aged 40-60 years (n=8960…
Changes of occupational class differences in physical functioning: A panel study among employees (2000–2007)
BACKGROUND: Panel studies on changes of occupational class differences in health have given varying results. The aim of this study was to examine changes of occupational class differences in physical functioning and the factors that explain these changes. METHODS: A cohort of middle-aged employees of the City of Helsinki was followed up for an average of 6 years in two surveys from 2000-2002 and 2007. Hierarchical linear random effects models wer…
Explaining occupational class differences in sickness absence: Results from middle-aged municipal employees
OBJECTIVES: Low socioeconomic position is consistently associated with higher rates of sickness absence. We aimed to examine whether working conditions, health-related behaviours and family-related factors explain occupational class differences in medically certified sickness absence. METHODS: The study included 5470 women and 1464 men employees of the City of Helsinki, surveyed in 2000-2002. These data were prospectively linked to sickness absen…
Pain and health related functioning among employees
Study objective: Although employees report high rates of pain, little is known about the effects of pain on health related functioning among them. This study examined the effects of pain on employees’ health related functioning by bodily locations of pain, number of painful locations, and whether pain was acute or chronic. Design: Cross sectional questionnaire survey. Data on pain and health related functioning as measured with the eight subscale…
Development of smoking by birth cohort in the adult population in eastern Finland 1972-97
In men decreased initiation and increased cessation contributed to the downward trend in smoking prevalence, whereas among women, changes in smoking were mostly caused by augmented initiation in successive birth cohorts. During the study period educational inequalities in smoking widened, as the less highly educated came increasingly to form the smoking population
Income and health behaviours. Evidence from monitoring surveys among Finnish adults
Study objective: To examine the associations of individual and household income with various health behaviours, before and after adjusting for educational attainment and occupational social class. Design and Setting: Data from 19 982 respondents to nationwide health behaviour surveys from 1993 to 1999 (response rate 70%) were linked with socioeconomic information from population registers. Measurements: The income measures were total individual i…
Socioeconomic status and smoking
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Socioeconomic differences in smoking have been well established. While previous studies have mostly relied on one socioeconomic indicator at a time, this study examined socioeconomic differences in smoking by using several indicators that reflect different dimensions of socioeconomic position. DATA AND METHODS: Data derive from Helsinki Health Study baseline surveys conducted among the employees of the City of Helsinki in 200…
Influence of material and behavioural factors on occupational class differences in health
Objective: To examine material and behavioural factors as explanations for occupational class differences in health, while taking into account the interrelations between these two groups of factors. Methods: Data from cross sectional surveys among middle aged women and men employed by the City of Helsinki (n = 6062, response rate 68%) were used. The contribution of four material and seven behavioural factors to occupational class differences in s…
Socioeconomic Position and Self-Rated Health: The Contribution of Childhood Socioeconomic Circumstances, Adult Socioeconomic Status, and Material Resources
Objectives. We examined socioeconomic inequalities in self-rated health by analyzing indicators of childhood socioeconomic circumstances, adult socioeconomic position, and current material resources. Methods. We collected data on middle-aged adults employed by the City of Helsinki (n=8970; 67% response rate). Associations between 7 socioeconomic indicators and health self-ratings of less than “good” were examined with sequential logistic regressi…
The contribution of lone parenthood and economic difficulties to smoking
Pain and health related functioning among employees
Study objective: Although employees report high rates of pain, little is known about the effects of pain on health related functioning among them. This study examined the effects of pain on employees’ health related functioning by bodily locations of pain, number of painful locations, and whether pain was acute or chronic. Design: Cross sectional questionnaire survey. Data on pain and health related functioning as measured with the eight subscale…
Job control, job demands, or social class? The impact of working conditions on the relation between social class and health
Background: The aim of the study was to investigate (1) how much of the association between health and social class is accounted by psychosocial working conditions, and (2) whether health is related to working conditions after controlling for social class. Methods: The data derive from the surveys of the Helsinki health study, collected in 2000, 2001, and 2002 from 40–60 year old employees working for the City of Helsinki (n = 8970, response rate…
Associations of childhood circumstances with physical and mental functioning in adulthood
Multiple measures of socioeconomic circumstances and common mental disorders
Health behaviours as explanations for educational level differences in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality: A follow-up of 60 000 men and women over 23 years
BACKGROUND: Health behaviours are potential explanatory factors for socioeconomic differences in mortality. We examined the extent to which seven health behaviours covering dietary habits, smoking and physical activity, can account for relative differences in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality by educational level. METHODS: Health behaviour data derived from nationwide Finnish health behaviour surveys from the years 1979 to 2001. These annual…
Smoking in context – a multilevel approach to smoking among females in Helsinki
The large variation in smoking rates between areas appears mainly to result from variation in the characteristics of residents within areas. Yet, living in an area with a high level of unemployment appears to be an additional risk for smoking that cannot be fully accounted for by individual level characteristics even in a cohort of female municipal employees
Home ownership and mortality: A register-based follow-up study of 300 000 Finns
BACKGROUND: This study examined whether living in rented housing is associated with increased all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and whether the association between home ownership and mortality can be explained by household income, occupational class, and educational level. METHODS: A random sample including every seventh Finn aged 40-80 years at the end of 1997 (N = 308 291) was derived from the population register of Finland. The sample wa…
Social class differences in health behaviours among employees from Britain, Finland and Japan: The influence of psychosocial factors
Comparing the effects of neighbourhood characteristics on all-cause mortality using two hierarchical areal units in the capital region of Helsinki
Housing wealth and mortality: A register linkage study of the Finnish population
Explaining occupational class differences in sickness absence: Results from middle-aged municipal employees
OBJECTIVES: Low socioeconomic position is consistently associated with higher rates of sickness absence. We aimed to examine whether working conditions, health-related behaviours and family-related factors explain occupational class differences in medically certified sickness absence. METHODS: The study included 5470 women and 1464 men employees of the City of Helsinki, surveyed in 2000-2002. These data were prospectively linked to sickness absen…
The associations of household wealth and income with self-rated health - A study on economic advantage in middle-aged Finnish men and women
Working conditions as risk factors for disability retirement: A longitudinal register linkage study
Among various working conditions, those that are physically demanding and those that imply low job control are potential risk factors for disability retirement. Improving the physical working environment and enhancing control over one's job is likely to help prevent early retirement due to disability
Twenty-five year trends in body mass index by education and income in Finland
No overall change in the socio-economic differences of BMI was observed in Finland between 1978 and 2002. However, the trends of BMI diverged in sub-groups of the studied population: the most prominent increase in BMI took place in high income men with low education and in low income men with high education. The results encourage further research on the pathways between income, education, living conditions and the increasing BMI
Trends in life expectancy by income from 1988 to 2007: Decomposition by age and cause of death
BACKGROUND: Less attention has been paid to mortality trends across income groups than those measured by other socioeconomic indicators. This study assessed the change in life expectancy by income over 20 years in the Finnish general population. METHODS: Life expectancy among 35-year-olds by household income quintiles was studied. Change in life expectancy from 1988-92 to 2003-7 was decomposed by age and cause of death. The dataset contained 754,…
Workplace bullying and common mental disorders: A follow-up study
BACKGROUND: Workplace bullying has been associated with mental health, but longitudinal studies confirming the association are lacking. This study examined the associations of workplace bullying with subsequent common mental disorders 5-7 years later, taking account of baseline common mental disorders and several covariates. METHODS: Baseline questionnaire survey data were collected in 2000-2002 among municipal employees, aged 40-60 years (n=8960…
Past and present socioeconomic circumstances and psychotropic medication: A register-linkage study
BACKGROUND: Various domains of socioeconomic circumstances are associated with self-reported mental health, but we lack evidence from studies using medically confirmed mental health outcomes. This longitudinal study aimed to examine the associations of multiple domains of socioeconomic circumstances with subsequent prescribed psychotropic medication among Finnish public sector employees. METHODS: Baseline survey data among 40-60-year-old employee…
Changes of occupational class differences in physical functioning: A panel study among employees (2000–2007)
BACKGROUND: Panel studies on changes of occupational class differences in health have given varying results. The aim of this study was to examine changes of occupational class differences in physical functioning and the factors that explain these changes. METHODS: A cohort of middle-aged employees of the City of Helsinki was followed up for an average of 6 years in two surveys from 2000-2002 and 2007. Hierarchical linear random effects models wer…
Household economic resources, labour-market advantage and health problems - A study on causal relationships using prospective register data
Medicine (33 works) · Environmental health (27 works) · Population (26 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (24 works) · Demography (23 works) · Gerontology (21 works) · Employment and Welfare Studies (20 works) · Workplace Health and Well-being (17 works) · Demography (15 works) · Economics (15 works)