Abstract
BackgroundWhile back pain and stressful work environment are shown to be important causes of sickness absence the effect of psychosocial resources on sickness absence, and on self assessed work ability, is less commonly investigated. The aim of this study was to assess these associations in a two-year follow-up study.Methods341 working people aged 45 to 64, randomly drawn from the population, responded to a questionnaire at baseline and at a two-year follow-up. Poisson regression was used to analyse the association of psychosocial factors (psychosocial instruments on work environment, emotional support and psychological resources) and previous back pain (low back and/or neck) at baseline with sickness absence (spells and days) at follow-up, controlling for effects of age, sex, BMI, smoking, alcohol, occupation, disease and previous sickness absence. Logistic regression was used to study the associations of psychosocial factors and previous back pain at baseline with self assessed prognosis of poor work ability six months from follow-up. Finally, a multivariate analysis tested the independent effects of previous back pain and 3 psychosocial factors derived in a factor analysis: 1. work environment; 2. emotional support; 3. psychological resources, on work ability and absence days and spells.Results80% of the sickness absence spells within the last 12 months before follow-up were short-term (≤ 14 days). In the final model, high emotional support predicted more sickness absence spells (RR 1.36; 1.11-1.67) and days (RR 1.68, 1.22-2.31). Previous back pain (OR 2.56; 1.13-5.81), high emotional support (OR 1.58; 1.02-2.46), and low psychological resources (OR 0.62; 0.44-0.89) were related to poorer self assessed prognosis of work ability at follow up.ConclusionsIn a general middle aged working population high emotional support was related to more sickness absence and also poorer self assessed prognosis of work ability. Our findings suggest that both sickness absence and self assessed work ability are dependent of life outside work and can be affected by a person's close community.
Highlights
While back pain and stressful work environment are shown to be important causes of sickness absence the effect of psychosocial resources on sickness absence, and on self assessed work ability, is less commonly investigated
The examination of a wide-range of defined theorybased psychosocial characteristics is unusual in sickness absence research [20], and few studies have examined the association between psychosocial resources and sickness absence
Study aim The aim of this study was to investigate prospectively, over a two-year follow-up in a general middle-aged working Swedish population, the effect of psychosocial work environment, psychosocial resources and previous back pain on self-reported sickness absence and self assessed prognosis of work ability
Summary
While back pain and stressful work environment are shown to be important causes of sickness absence the effect of psychosocial resources on sickness absence, and on self assessed work ability, is less commonly investigated. Musculoskeletal disorders, primarily back pain, have been the main causes for sickness absence in Sweden [1,2], but stress-related ill health is growing rapidly as a cause of such absence [3]. In the Whitehall II cohort, high levels of confiding/ emotional support at home was associated with a higher risk for sickness absence [22] and sickness absence, mainly the shorter, has been suggested as a coping behavior to reduce work-related stress by avoiding the workplace and thereby creating the opportunity for recuperation [23]. The determinants of sickness absence and work ability are not necessarily the same [24], and few investigations have examined predictors for both sickness absence and work ability in parallel
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