Short-term sick leave and future risk of sickness absence and unemployment - the impact of health status

BMC Public Health

Jette Möller²  Mauricio Malfert³  Christina Lindholm¹  Hanna Hultin² 

[1] Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;Uppsala Clinical Research Center, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden

关键词: Population-based study;    Unemployment;    Future sickness absence;    Health status;    Short-term sick leave;   

Others  :  1162995
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-12-861

 received in 2011-12-13, accepted in 2012-10-05,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

In previous studies the authors have found sick leave to be a predictor of future sick leave, unemployment and disability pension. Although sick leave reflects underlying health problems, some studies have suggested that sick leave may have consequences beyond the consequences of the underlying illness. However, few studies have aimed at studying consequences of sick leave while adjusting for ill health. This study aims to explore whether short-term sick leave increases the risk of future long-term sick leave, disability pension, and unemployment. Furthermore, we aim to control for the potentially confounding effects of physical and mental health status.

Methods

Data were gathered from the Stockholm Public Health Cohort (SPHC), restricted to 11,156 employed individuals (48.6% men) aged 18–59, without long-term sick leave, disability pension or in-patient care the year before inclusion (2002). These were followed-up with regard to unemployment, long-term sick leave, and disability pension in 2006 and 2007.

Odds ratios (OR) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated by logistic regression, controlling for six different measures of health status (limiting long-standing illness, self-rated health, mental health, somatic disease, musculoskeletal pain and in-patient care) and socio-demographic factors.

Results

Results from the unadjusted analyses indicated increased risks of long-term sick leave (OR 2.00; CI 1.62-2.46) and short-term unemployment (OR 1.76; CI 1.35-2.29) for individuals exposed to more than one short-term sick-leave spell. There were no increased odds of long-term unemployment (OR 0.54; CI 0.28-1.04) or disability pension (OR 0.72; CI 0.42-1.24). After adjusting for the different measures of health status the odds ratio for short-term unemployment was not statistically significant (OR 1.29; CI 0.97-1.74). The odds ratios for the other outcomes slightly increased after adjustment for the used measures of health status.

Conclusions

The results support the assumption that short-term sick leave may have consequences for future sick leave beyond the effect of ill health. The results point to the importance of paying attention to short-term sick leave in order to prevent subsequent sickness absence.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Hultin et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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