Handbook of Life Course Occupational Health - (Handbook Occupational Health Sciences) by Morten Wahrendorf & Tarani Chandola & Alexis Descatha

Book Synopsis

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments in research on the relationship between occupational trajectories over the life course and health. It uncovers the impact of far-reaching changes of work and employment, as evidenced by increased flexibility, discontinuity, and technological innovation, and offers insights into recent theoretical and methodological developments addressing this challenge. In its main parts, it presents the best evidence to readers about the following topics: early life influences on (un)healthy work, chronic exposure to occupational risks; nonstandard employment and poor health; work continuation with chronic disease; occupational determinants of healthy aging. In its final part, it discusses policy implications of current knowledge and points to the need of developing new solutions in research and practice, not least in times of climate crisis and the new pandemic.

The important handbook has been prepared by a distinguished editorial team, with chapters written by prominent international experts. Despite its continuous reference to scientific knowledge it addresses its content to a broader, non-specialized readership.

About the Author

Morten Wahrendorf works at the Institute for Medical Sociology of the University Düsseldorf, Germany, where he leads the working group on "Work & Health". He has previously worked at the International Centre For Life-course Studies in Society and Health (ICLS) at University College London. His main research areas are work stress, health inequalities, life course epidemiology, ageing, and the comparative analyses of longitudinal cohort studies. He leads several projects that investigates both individual and national predictors of working conditions across the life course and their long-term effects on health at older ages. His research expertise spans different disciplines-including public health, epidemiology, statistics and sociology.
Tarani Chandola is a Professor of Medical Sociology. He is the head of the department of Sociology and the director of the Methods Hub in the Faculty of theSocial Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. He joined the University of Hong Kong in August 2021 and was formerly the head of department of Social Statistics at the University of Manchester. His research is primarily on the social determinants of health, focusing on health inequalities and psychosocial factors, social-biological research and the analysis of longitudinal cohort studies.

Alexis Descatha is a Professor in Occupational Health in Paris then in Angers (Western of France), at University of Angers/ Inserm Irster/Ester, and lead the Clinical Toxicological Unit - Poison Control Center, in university hospital of Angers. His research focuses on the epidemiology of work disorders, musculoskeletal and other chronic diseases. He has interest on exposure assessment using a job exposure matrix and on performing systematic reviews. As emergency physician, he also conducts research on emergencies in occupational settings and created the ICOH's scientific committee on Emergency Preparedness and Response, and involved in ICOH as board member in 2022-24. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Les Archives des Maladies Professionnelles et de l'Environnement. Recently, he was appointed Clinical Professor of Occupational Medicine, Epidemiology and Prevention at Hofstra School of Medicine, USA. In 2021, he received the Légion d'Honneur. To promote transfer research to practitioners in occupational health in a Translational Epidemiology Center on Occupational health, Toxicology, and Preparedness, he is presenting a YouTube channel (with University of Angers support). He is working also in promoting research in occupational health for different national and international agencies.