Country
Work Package 1
2) Danish Work Life Course Cohort study (DaWCo)
The Danish Work Life Course Cohort (DaWCo) is a large-scale, register-based inception cohort study designed to investigate the impact of working conditions on health across the early working life course. By linking multiple nationwide administrative registers, the study enables detailed longitudinal analyses of employment trajectories and health outcomes.
Denmark.
Type of Study
Register-based inception cohort study.
Data Collection
Data are derived from annual updates of nationwide Danish registers covering the period from 1995 to 2018. Individual-level data are linked across registers using unique personal identification numbers, allowing for continuous follow-up of employment history, socioeconomic factors, and health outcomes over time.
Sample Size
The cohort includes approximately 1.5 million individuals.
Sample Size Characteristics
Participants were included if they were aged 15 to 30 years and entered the Danish labour market for the first time during the study period. The cohort is divided into two subcohorts: DaWCo-I (individuals entering the labour market between 1995 and 2009) and DaWCo-II (2010 to 2018). The study captures early work-life exposures in a nationally representative population of young workers.
Measurement of Mental Health
Mental health outcomes are assessed through register-based data on psychiatric treatment. This includes information on in- and outpatient contacts at psychiatric hospitals recorded in the Danish National Patient Register, based on ICD diagnostic codes for mental disorders, including depressive disorders.
Cohort Profile Available
Yes, Svane-Petersen AC et al. Cohort profile: the Danish Work Life Course Cohort study (DaWCo). BMJ Open, Volume 9, Issue 11, 2019, DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029658.
Key Publications
- Svane-Petersen AC et al. Psychosocial working conditions and depressive disorder: disentangling effects of job control from socioeconomic status using a life-course approach. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, Volume 55, 217-228, 2020, DOI:10.1007/s00127-019-01769-9.
- Madsen IEH et al. Emotional demands at work and risk of hospital-treated depressive disorder in up to 1.6 million Danish employees: a prospective nationwide register-based cohort study. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, Volume 48, Issue 4, 302-311, 2022, DOI:10.5271/sjweh.4020.
- Sørensen JK et al. Psychosocial working conditions and sickness absence among younger employees in Denmark: a register-based cohort study using job exposure matrices. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, Volume 49, Issue 4, 249-258, 2023, DOI:10.5271/sjweh.4083.
Open Access
No. The dataset is not publicly available. Access is restricted and typically requires collaboration with the research team, as well as approval under Danish data protection regulations.
Contact For Collaboration and Possible Access
Dr. Ida E.H. Madsen, National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark. Email: ihm@nfa.dk.