"This doctoral dissertation aims to fill two important knowledge gaps in Belgian health research. A first main objective is to investigate differences in occupational health and mortality risks for the total Belgian workforce. A second main objective focuses on a major occupational and environmental health hazard: the asbestos burden on Belgian mortality. Data covering the total Belgian population are derived from census-linked mortality data, as well as from the Belgian Scientific Institute for Public Health and the WHO Mortality database. The total male and female workforce was selected from the 1991 census and followed up for a period of approximately 20 years. Selfreported health, all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality were investigated within a quantitative research design.
Analyses on occupational health and mortality risk demonstrate large variation by occupation among both male and female workers. Overall, manual workers experienced the highest health and mortality risks. Working in managerial, teaching, scientific and health-related positions was associated with the lowest health and mortality risks. Considerable health and mortality differences were apparent within the group of manual workers, as well as among non-manual and managerial occupations. The mortality patterns show large variation in deaths due to preventable causes such as respiratory malignancies, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and alcohol-related diseases. When considering a potential health bias by occupation, we found risk estimates for poor health increased with 15%-29% after a 10-year lag. The strongest selection effects out of employment occurred in occupations with a high degree of manual labour."

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