Retirement age and type as predictors of frailty : a retrospective cohort study of older businessmen

ObjectivesTo study the association between retirement characteristics and frailty in a homogenous population of former business executives.DesignCross-sectional cohort study using data from the Helsinki Businessmen Study.SettingHelsinki, Finland.Participants1324 Caucasian men, born in 1919–1934, who had worked as business executives and managers and of whom 95.9% had retired by the year 2000. Questions on age at and type of retirement, lifestyle and chronic conditions were embedded in questionnaires.Primary and secondary outcome measuresFrailty assessed according to a modified phenotype definition at mean age 73.3 years.ResultsMean age at retirement was 61.3 years (SD 4.3) and 37.1% had ret…