Early Retirement, Early Death?
A study by Josef Zweimuller, Andreas Kuhn and Jean-Philippe Wuellrich at the University of Zurich suggests that early retirement could lead to an earlier death. Specifically, they estimated a decrease of 1.8 months in lifespan for each year a person retires early.
The researchers looked at data from Austria, where workers in some regions of the country were allowed to retire up to 3.5 years earlier than workers in located in other regions. The group was comprised of blue-collar workers born between 1929 and 1941. The study found that, for every year they retired early, men incurred a 2.4 percentage point increase in incidences of premature death, defined as dying before age 67.
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What caused the earlier death rates? Changes in health-related behavior, particularly smoking, drinking, an unhealthy diet and little physical exercise were the primary culprits. Heart disease (mostly heart attacks), diseases related to excessive alcohol consumption and vehicle injuries accounted for 78% of the causal retirement effect.
That’s the bad news. Now for some good news.
Voluntary early retirement did not cause a shorter lifespan. Furthermore, the causal relationship between early retirement and premature death did not exist for women. The researchers theorize that women may be more health conscious or they may be more active due to their higher involvement in household activities.
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