Medically unexplained symptoms and the risk of loss of labor market participation - a prospective study in the Danish population

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Hermann Burr¹  Katja Loengaard²  Reiner Rugulies³  Jakob Bue Bjorner⁴  Per Klausen Fink⁵ 

[1] Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Berlin, Germany;National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lerso Parkalle 105, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark;National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lerso Parkalle 105, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark;Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark;Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark;National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Lerso Parkalle 105, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark;Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark;QualityMetric, Lincoln, RI, USA;The Research Clinic for Functional Disorders and Psychosomatics, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark;

关键词: Rate Ratio;    Sickness Absence;    Disability Pension;    Healthy Group;    Labor Market Participation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-2177-4

 received in 2014-06-30, accepted in 2015-08-21,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMedically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS) are frequently encountered in general practice. However, little is known whether MUS affects labor market participation. We investigated the prospective association between MUS at baseline and risk of long-term sickness absence (LTSA), unemployment, and disability pensioning in a 5-year-follow-up study.MethodsIn the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study 2005, 8187 randomly selected employees from the Danish general population answered a questionnaire on work and health. Responses were linked with national registers on prescribed medication and hospital treatment. Participants were classified with MUS if they: a) had reported three or more symptoms during the last month, and b) did not have a chronic condition, neither in the self-reported nor the register data. We assessed LTSA, unemployment, and disability pensioning by linking our data with National registers of social transfer payments.ResultsOf the 8187 participants, 272 (3.3 %) were categorized with MUS. Compared to healthy participants, participants with MUS had an increased risk of LTSA (Rate ratio (RR) = 1.76, 95 % CI = 1.28–2.42), and of unemployment (RR = 1.48, 95 % CI = 1.02–2.15) during follow-up. MUS participants also showed an elevated RR with regard to risk of disability pensioning, however this association was not statistically significant (RR = 2.06, 95 % CI = 0.77–5.52).ConclusionMUS seem to have a negative effect on labor market participation defined by LTSA and unemployment, whereas it is more uncertain whether MUS affects risk of disability pensioning.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Loengaard et al. 2015