Women's Occupational Patterns and Later Life Physical Functioning.

Timing and accumulation of work-related exposures may influence later life health. This study evaluates the association between women's work patterns and physical functioning. Work history and physical functioning information was collected at baseline for U.S. women ages 50 to 79 years in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study ( = 75,507). We estimated life course workforce participation patterns using latent class analysis. Associations between work patterns and physical limitations were explored using modified Poisson regression. Compared with working continuously, women who left the workforce early had 8% increased risk and women who worked intermittently had 5% reduced risk of physical limitations later in life. The negative association with intermittent workforce participation was stronger for women with substantively complex work (9% reduced risk) than for women with nonsubstantively complex work (2% reduced risk). : Life course work patterns and characteristics may contribute to physical functioning later in life among women.