Abstract
Background: Knowledge about sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP) among privately employed white-collar workers is very limited. Aims: This study aimed to explore SA and DP among privately employed white-collar women and men using different measures of SA to investigate differences by branch of industry, and to analyse the association between sociodemographic factors and SA. Methods: This was a population-based study of all 1,283,516 (47% women) privately employed white-collar workers in Sweden in 2012, using register data linked at the individual level. Several different measures of SA and DP were used. Logistic regression was used to investigate associations of sociodemographic factors with SA. Results: More women than men had SA (10.9% women vs. 4.5% men) and DP (1.8% women vs. 0.6% men). While women had a higher risk of SA than men and had more SA days per employed person, they did not have more SA days per person with SA than men. The risk of SA was higher for women (odds ratio (OR)=2.54 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.51–2.58)), older individuals (OR age 18–24 years=0.58 (95% CI 0.56–0.60); age 55–64 years OR=1.43 (95% CI 1.40–1.46) compared to age 45–54 years), living in medium-sized towns (OR=1.05 (95% CI 1.03–1.06)) or small towns/rural areas (OR=1.13 (95% CI 1.11–1.15)), with shorter education than college/university (OR compulsory only=1.64 (95% CI 1.59–1.69); OR high school=1.38 (95% CI 1.36–1.40)), born outside the EU25 (OR=1.23 (95% CI 1.20–1.27)) and singles with children at home (OR=1.33 (95% CI 1.30–1.36)). Conclusions: SA and DP among privately employed white-collar workers were lower than in the general population. SA prevalence, length and risk varied by branch of industry, sex and other sociodemographic factors, however, depending on the SA measure used.
Highlights
In recent years, the number of studies on sickness absence (SA) in general and in specific occupations and diagnoses has increased
We used data from two nationwide Swedish administrative registers linked at the individual level by use of the personal identity number (PIN; a unique 10-digit number assigned to all Swedish residents): (a) the Longitudinal Integration Database for Health Insurance and Labour Market Studies (LISA) held by Statistics Sweden to identify the source population and for information on age, sex, country of birth, type of living area, family situation, educational level, income, occupational code, sector and branch of industry; and (b) the MicroData for Analysis of the Social Insurance database (MiDAS) held by the Social Insurance Agency for information on SA spells >14 days and disability pension (DP)
The absolute majority had more than compulsory education (95.1% of the women and 94.2% of the men), and more than half had at least some college/university education (52.3% of the women and 55.2% of the men)
Summary
The number of studies on sickness absence (SA) in general and in specific occupations and diagnoses has increased. The two largest study cohorts of white-collar employees are The Whitehall-II study of British civil servants, of whom the majority are white-collar workers [2,3], and the Helsinki Health Study of municipal workers, including both white-collar and blue-collar workers [4] These studies of public employees show that there are SA differences within the white-collar workers by age, sex, education, occupational status and other sociodemographic and socio-economic factors [3,5]. Aims: This study aimed to explore SA and DP among privately employed white-collar women and men using different measures of SA to investigate differences by branch of industry, and to analyse the association between sociodemographic factors and SA. SA prevalence, length and risk varied by branch of industry, sex and other sociodemographic factors, depending on the SA measure used
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
