Affiliations: | Division of Tema Health, Department of Health and
Society, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden | Department of Social Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy
at Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden | Section of Personal Injury Prevention, Department of
Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Nadine Karlsson, Division of Social
Medicine and Public Health Science, Department of Health and Society, Faculty
of Health Sciences, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
Tel.: +46 13 222381; Fax: +46 13 221865; E-mail: nadine.karlsson@ihs.liu.se
Abstract: Residents of the county of Östergötland, Sweden, who were
16–64 years of age in December 1984 and not pensioned (n=229,864), were
followed in a prospective, cohort, study of data collected between 1985 and
1996. Using survival methods as the method of analysis, the likelihood of being
granted a disability pension was 14% for women, 11% for men, and
increased with age. Women less than 54 years of age were at higher risk than
men (P<0.001), 69% of disability pensions granted were full-time and
31% were part-time, more women received part-time pensions (P<0.001).
Whether the differences observed are due to gender bias in social insurance
practices, to disease patterns, to occupational and work-related factors, or to
a cohort effect has yet to be determined.
