Objective: To test the hypothesis that prematurely retired men have long-term unspecifically increased health care utilisation, indicating broader health deterioration than reflected by the retirement diagnosis.
Design: A two-cohort study.
Setting: The City of Eskilstuna, Sweden.
Subjects: 215 men aged 30-54 years who retired early due to illness and a random sample of 620 referents of the same age from the general population.
Main outcome measures: Health care utilisation from 5 years before retirement until 13 years after retirement.
Results: The retired men had 7.2 times higher utilisation of primary health care during the baseline year and 2-3 times higher rates of hospital admissions than the referents during the 13-year follow-up. The panorama of main hospital discharge diagnoses was the same among retired men and referents irrespective of the retirement diagnoses of the former. Over time, health care utilisation among the retired men decreased, but was constant among the referents. After 13 years, the retired men still had twice the rate of the referents.
Conclusion: Prematurely retired men had high health care utilisation also after retirement. They appear to have broader health deterioration than reflected by the retirement diagnosis.