Suoraa työkyvyttömyyseläkettä ennakoivat sosiaaliset ja terveyteen liittyvät tekijät: Rekisteritutkimus vuosina 2015–2022 työeläkejärjestelmästä työkyvyttömyyseläkkeen saaneista

A variety of routes may lead to a disability pension. Some disability pension applicants receive a positive decision directly without previous benefit or preliminary decisions granted by the pension insurance company. The aim of the study was to investigate whether social and health-related factors are related to a direct permanent disability pension compared to having previous earnings-related pension benefits. In addition, we studied what factors increase the likelihood of ending up on a full disability pension instead of a partial disability pension for those who have received a direct disability pension. The research data (n= 13,084) consists of disability pension applications submitted to one of the private Finnish pension insurance companies for the years 2015–2022. As a modeling method, we used logistic regression. Our study showed that approximately one third (n=5 019) of the total data were recipients of a direct disability pension, of whom 1,574 received a partial disability pension and 3,445 received a full disability pension. Many sociodemographic, socioeconomic and health-related factors were associated with receiving a direct disability pension. The probability of receiving a direct disability pension was increased most by the age of over 55, the severity of the illness, and the diagnoses of nervous system diseases and neoplasms. When we studied only those who received a direct disability pension, the likelihood of a full disability pension was increased especially by the male sex, the severity of the illness assessed as severe, and more than two previous benefit rejections before the disability pension. An applicant with a mental health diagnosis or neoplasms was more likely to end up on a full direct disability pension than others. A significant number of people end up on a disability pension directly. It is important to address the factors associated with disability as early as possible to support the return to work instead of ending up on a disability pension.