Need for recovery from work in relation to age: a prospective cohort study

PURPOSE: To investigate the impact of increasing age on the need for recovery (NFR) over time among day workers METHODS: The study is based on data from the first 2 years of follow-up of the Maastricht Cohort Study (n = 7,734). To investigate whether age predicted the onset of elevated NFR, multivariate survival analyses were conducted RESULTS: The highest levels of NFR were observed in the age group of 46–55 years. The relative risk for developing elevated NFR was highest in the age groups 36–45 years (RR 1.30; 1.07–1.58) and 46–55 years (RR 1.25; 1.03–1.52) in men and 46–55 years (RR 1.36; 1.04–1.77) in women when compared to the reference group CONCLUSIONS: While NFR increased with age until the age of 55, this was followed by decreased levels of NFR among older employees. Explanations for the decreasing levels of NFR in the highest age group can be found in several domains such as the work environment, private situation and compensation strategies.