Abstract
The legal retirement age in Europe is around 65, some countries have a slightly higher or lower retirement age. The isolated effect of type 2 diabetes (T2D) on retirement in those aged between 51 and 64 was investigated. Data from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (Wave 7) was used to analyse 10,794 Europeans with T2D or without diabetes, employed or retired. When socio-demographic, health and well-being characteristics were taken into account, having T2D was not significantly associated with retirement (AOR = 1.021; 95%CI 0.918 to 1.137). The profile of those with or without T2D were very similar, differing between those retired or employed. Regardless of T2D, age and gender, Europeans with two or more chronic diseases, limitations with activities, and health problems that limit paid work, tended more to be retired. In contrast those married and with higher levels of education were less prone to be retired. The main finding is that among Europeans in their fifties and early sixties, having T2D does not per se increase significantly the likelihood of retiring before age 65. Those that retired before the legal age probably have or will have limited financial resources necessary for health care, due to their lower level of education and the fact that most of them will not receive a full old-age pension. Among those, T2D can represent an additional vulnerability with ageing, since diabetes is a chronic progressive illness that can lead to health complications, which imply medical costs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Borsch-Supan, A., Brandt, M., Hunkler, C., Kneip, T., Korbmacher, J., Malter, F., . . . Team, Share Central Coordination. (2013). Data resource profile: The survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe (SHARE). International Journal of Epidemiology, 42(4), 992–1001. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyt088.
Brandao, M. P., & Cardoso, M. F. (2018). Obesity in older type 2 diabetic patients: Does working environment add vulnerability? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15122677.
Breton, M. C., Guenette, L., Amiche, M. A., Kayibanda, J. F., Gregoire, J. P., & Moisan, J. (2013). Burden of diabetes on the ability to work: A systematic review. Diabetes Care, 36(3), 740–749. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc12-0354.
Coe, N. B., & Zamarro, G. (2011). Retirement effects on health in Europe. Journal of Health Economics, 30(1), 77–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.11.002.
Dabelea, D., Stafford, J. M., Mayer-Davis, E. J., D'Agostino Jr., R., Dolan, L., Imperatore, G., et al. (2017). Association of Type 1 diabetes vs type 2 diabetes diagnosed during childhood and adolescence with complications during teenage years and young adulthood. JAMA, 317(8), 825–835. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.0686.
de Boer, A., Geuskens, G. A., Bultmann, U., Boot, C. R. L., Wind, H., Koppes, L. L. J., & Frings-Dresen, M. H. W. (2018). Employment status transitions in employees with and without chronic disease in the Netherlands. International Journal of Public Health, 63(6), 713–722. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-018-1120-8.
Espelt, A., Arriola, L., Borrell, C., Larranaga, I., Sandin, M., & Escolar-Pujolar, A. (2011). Socioeconomic position and type 2 diabetes mellitus in Europe 1999-2009: A panorama of inequalities. Current Diabetes Reviews, 7(3), 148–158.
Espelt, A., Borrell, C., Palencia, L., Goday, A., Spadea, T., Gnavi, R., et al. (2013). Socioeconomic inequalities in the incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Europe. Gaceta Sanitaria, 27(6), 494–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2013.03.002.
European Coalition for Diabetes. (2009). EU diabetes working group (2009–2014) delivering for diabetes in Europe. Policy paper. .
European Union, Your Europe, ,. (2020). State pensions abroad. Retrieved from https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/retire-abroad/state-pensions-abroad/index_en.htm
Eurostat. (2017). Employment and unemployment (LFS). Database. . Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/lfs/data/database
Hyde, M., Higgs, P., Wiggins, R. D., & Blane, D. (2015). A decade of research using the CASP scale: Key findings and future directions. Aging & Mental Health, 19(7), 571–575. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2015.1018868.
Hyde, M., Wiggins, R. D., Higgs, P., & Blane, D. B. (2003). A measure of quality of life in early old age: The theory, development and properties of a needs satisfaction model (CASP-19). Aging & Mental Health, 7(3), 186–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360786031000101157.
Kouwenhoven-Pasmooij, T. A., Burdorf, A., Roos-Hesselink, J. W., Hunink, M. G., & Robroek, S. J. (2016). Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and early exit from paid employment in Europe; the impact of work-related factors. International Journal of Cardiology, 215, 332–337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2016.04.090.
Litwin, H., & Tur-Sinai, A. (2015). The role of the social network in early retirement among older Europeans. Work, Aging and Retirement, 1(4), 340–349. https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/wav013.
Mehrbrodt, T., Gruber, S., & Wagner, M. (2019). SHARE - Scales and Multi-Item Indicators. Retrieved from.
Mousteri, V., Daly, M., & Delaney, L. (2018). The scarring effect of unemployment on psychological well-being across Europe. Social Science Research, 72, 146–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.01.007.
Mutambudzi, M., Gonzalez Gonzalez, C., & Wong, R. (2019). Impact of diabetes and disease duration on work status among U.S. older adults. J Aging Health, 898264318822897. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264318822897.
OECD. (2018). Ageing and Employment Policies - Statistics on average effective age of retirement. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/els/emp/average-effective-age-of-retirement.htm
Rohwedder, S., & Willis, R. J. (2010). Mental Retirement. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 24(1), 119–138. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.24.1.119.
Rumball-Smith, J., Barthold, D., Nandi, A., & Heymann, J. (2014). Diabetes associated with early labor-force exit: A comparison of sixteen high-income countries. Health Aff (Millwood), 33(1), 110–115. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0518.
Ruston, A., Smith, A., & Fernando, B. (2013). Diabetes in the workplace - diabetic's perceptions and experiences of managing their disease at work: A qualitative study. BMC Public Health, 13, 386. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-386.
Ryden, L., Grant, P. J., Anker, S. D., Berne, C., Cosentino, F., Danchin, N., et al. (2013). ESC guidelines on diabetes, pre-diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases developed in collaboration with the EASD: The task force on diabetes, pre-diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and developed in collaboration with the European Association for the Study of diabetes (EASD). European Heart Journal, 34(39), 3035–3087. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/eht108.
Ryden, L., Standl, E., Bartnik, M., Van den Berghe, G., Betteridge, J., de Boer, M. J., et al. (2007). Guidelines on diabetes, pre-diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases: Executive summary. The task force on diabetes and cardiovascular diseases of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and of the European Association for the Study of diabetes (EASD). European Heart Journal, 28(1), 88–136. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehl260.
Segel-Karpas, D. (2015). Number of illnesses, self-perceived health, and depressive symptoms: The moderating role of employment in older adulthood and old age. Work, Aging and Retirement, 1(4), 382–392.
Sekscinska, K., Trzcinska, A., & Maison, D. A. (2016). The influence of different social roles activation on Women's financial and consumer choices. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 365. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00365.
Steele, C. J., Schottker, B., Marshall, A. H., Kouvonen, A., O'Doherty, M. G., Mons, U., et al. (2017). Education achievement and type 2 diabetes-what mediates the relationship in older adults? Data from the ESTHER study: A population-based cohort study. BMJ Open, 7(4), e013569. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013569.
Topa, G., Depolo, M., & Alcover, C. M. (2017). Early retirement: A meta-analysis of its antecedent and subsequent correlates. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2157. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02157.
Vandenheede, H., Deboosere, P., Espelt, A., Bopp, M., Borrell, C., Costa, G., Eikemo, T. A., Gnavi, R., Hoffmann, R., Kulhanova, I., Kulik, M., Leinsalu, M., Martikainen, P., Menvielle, G., Rodriguez-Sanz, M., Rychtarikova, J., & Mackenbach, J. P. (2015). Educational inequalities in diabetes mortality across Europe in the 2000s: The interaction with gender. International Journal of Public Health, 60(4), 401–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-015-0669-8.
World Health Organization. (2016). Global report on diabetes. Retrieved from Geneva:
World Health Organization. (2020). HEARTS D: diagnosis and management of type 2 diabetes. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-ucn-ncd-20.1
Acknowledgements
This paper uses data from SHARE Wave 7 (DOI:https://doi.org/10.6103/SHARE.w7.700), see: Börsch-Supan, A., M. Brandt, C. Hunkler, T. Kneip, J. Korbmacher, F. Malter, B. Schaan, S. Stuck, S. Zuber (2013). Data Resource Profile: The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). International Journal of Epidemiology, for methodological details.
The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through FP5 (QLK6-CT-2001-00360), FP6 (SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5-CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812) and FP7 (SHARE-PREP: N°211,909, SHARE-LEAP: N°227,822, SHARE M4: N°261,982). Additional funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research, the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR06–11, OGHA_04–064) and from various national funding sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org).
Funding
This article was supported by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operation POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007746 funded by the Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização – COMPETE2020 and by National Funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia within CINTESIS, R&D Unit (reference UID/IC/04255/2019).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cardoso, M.F., Brandão, M.P. Having Type 2 Diabetes Does Not Imply Retirement before Age 65 in Europe. Population Ageing 15, 307–318 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-020-09306-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12062-020-09306-2