Estimating Working Life Expectancy Using German Health Insurance Data – Advantages and Limitations

Juliane Tetzlaff , Hannover Medical School
Jelena Epping, Hannover Medical School
Siegfried Geyer, Hannover Medical School
Stefanie Sperlich , Hannover Medical School
Fabian Tetzlaff , Robert Koch-Institute

Background Against the backdrop of prolonged working lives, more research is needed on whether the additional years in labour are spent in good health and which social inequalities exist. Previous studies investigating trends in working life expectancy (WLE) are usually based on survey data. Health insurance data represent an additional database that can be used to analyse trends and inequalities in (healthy) WLE. The aim of this study is to analyse time trends in WLE from German health insurance data and to discuss the advantages and challenges of using these data. Methods This study is based on data of a large German statutory health insurance provider, the AOK Niedersachsen (N= 3,328,369). WLE was calculated based on multistate life tables. Trends in WLE were assessed comparing three time periods: 2006-2008, 2011-2013, and 2016-2018. Educational inequalities in WLE were calculated for 2011-2013. Preliminary results WLE clearly increased with increases being stronger among women. Substantial inequalities were found between educational groups. Strengths and Limitations Due to detailed information on (un-)employment episodes, the data permit to calculate WLE. In addition, the data have great potential to add to current research by examining healthy years in labour in terms of specific diseases often leading to early retirement. Nevertheless, some limitation need to be considered, e.g. with respect to socioeconomic distributions and that common labour force concepts cannot be completely transferred to the data. However, while the general level of WLE is below those reported in previous studies, time trends are similar.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe