Variations In Sickness Absence Research Articles

Seasonal patterns of sickness absence due to diagnosed mental disorders: a nationwide 12-year register linkage study.

Although seasonality has been documented for mental disorders, it is unknown whether similar patterns can be observed in employee sickness absence from work due to a wide range of mental disorders with different severity level, and to what extent the rate of change in light exposure plays a role. To address these limitations, we used daily based sickness absence records to examine seasonal patterns in employee sickness absence due to mental disorders. We used nationwide diagnosis-specific psychiatric sickness absence claims data from 2006 to 2017 for adult individuals aged 16-67 (n=636,543 sickness absence episodes) in Finland, a high-latitude country with a profound variation in daylength. The smoothed time-series of the ratio of observed and expected (O/E) daily counts of episodes were estimated, adjusted for variation in all-cause sickness absence rates during the year. Unipolar depressive disorders peaked in October-November and dipped in July, with similar associations in all forms of depression. Also, anxiety and non-organic sleep disorders peaked in October-November. Anxiety disorders dipped in January-February and in July-August, while non-organic sleep disorders dipped in April-August. Manic episodes reached a peak from March to July and dipped in September-November and in January-February. Seasonality was not dependent on the severity of the depressive disorder. These results suggest a seasonal variation in sickness absence due to common mental disorders and bipolar disorder, with high peaks in depressive, anxiety and sleep disorders towards the end of the year and a peak in manic episodes starting in spring. Rapid changes in light exposure may contribute to sickness absence due to bipolar disorder. The findings can help clinicians and workplaces prepare for seasonal variations in healthcare needs.

Workload, staff composition, and sickness absence: findings from employees in child care centers

Persistently, high workload may raise sickness absence with associated costs to firms and society. We proxy workload by the number of adults per child in Norwegian child care centers and find that more educated teachers per child are associated with lower sickness absence. However, more assistants with low or no higher education per child are associated with higher sickness absence, suggesting that observed variation in sickness absence at the center level may be driven by differences in staff composition rather than workload. The importance of the educational composition of employees on sickness absence is supported by findings from fixed-effects models and a fuzzy regression discontinuity design relying on variation from municipal elections.

Working conditions and compensated sickness absence among nurses and care assistants in Sweden during two decades: a cross-sectional biennial survey study

ObjectivesThe aims of the study were to trace the patterns of work environment factors and compensated sickness absence (SA) among nurses and care assistants compared with other occupations and to...

Sickness absence and psychosocial job quality: an analysis from a longitudinal survey of working Australians, 2005-2012.

Sickness absence is associated with adverse health, organizational, and societal outcomes. Using data from a longitudinal cohort study of working Australians (the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey), we examined the relationship between changes in individuals' overall psychosocial job quality and variation in sickness absence. The outcome variables were paid sickness absence (yes/no) and number of days of paid sickness absence in the past year (2005-2012). The main exposure variable was psychosocial job quality, measured using a psychosocial job quality index (levels of job control, demands and complexity, insecurity, and perceptions of unfair pay). Analysis was conducted using longitudinal fixed-effects logistic regression models and negative binomial regression models. There was a dose-response relationship between the number of psychosocial job stressors reported by an individual and the odds of paid sickness absence (1 adversity: odds ratio (OR) = 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.45 (P = 0.002); 2 adversities: OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.51 (P = 0.002); ≥3 adversities: OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.29, 1.94 (P < 0.001)). The negative binomial regression models also indicated that respondents reported a greater number of days of sickness absence in response to worsening psychosocial job quality. These results suggest that workplace interventions aiming to improve the quality of work could help reduce sickness absence.

The Effect of Occupational and Workplace Gender Composition on Sickness Absence

To examine whether gender composition of the occupation or the workplace is associated with sickness absence, whether the gender composition accounts for the observed female excess in sickness absence, and whether gender composition explains variation in sickness absence rates between occupations and workplaces. Random effects models conducted among Helsinki employees (N = 36,395). Women and men working in women-dominated occupations and workplaces had more short-term (1 to 3 days') sickness absence. Gender composition of the occupation and the workplace partly explained gender differences in short-term but not in intermediate (4 to 14 days') and long-term (>2 weeks') absence. Gender composition also explained variation in short-term sickness absence among occupations and workplaces, but this was partly accounted for by social class, income, and job contract type. The results are consistent with the assumption that short-term sickness absence reflects cultures and norms shaping sickness absence behavior.

Medicalization of sickness absence

During the last decades, medical certificates have become the core administrative mechanism for a variety of redistributive policies within public administration. This article explores variations in sickness absence as a result of medicalization. The study focuses on the meaning of illness and work disability over time among physicians and the officials in the national insurance offices who are responsible for deciding on matters of sickness absence. 230 casebooks (including medical certificates) are included in the study. The material covers two time periods: the end of the 1970s and the end of the 1990s. The findings indicate that over time officials and physicians have adopted a broader definition of illness and work disability. Different attention and meanings have been given to conditions and symptoms in the southern and northern parts of Sweden, resulting in a difference in diagnoses between the two regions. The results indicate medicalization as one explanation for changing sickness figures and differences in the patterns of diagnoses, and the necessity of placing further emphasis on social insurance offices and their role in changing patterns of sickness absence.

The effect of social deprivation on local authority sickness absence rates

There is an extensive body of research relating to the association between ergonomic and psychosocial factors on sickness absence rates. The impact of deprivation on health indices has also been extensively investigated. However, published research has not investigated the extent of any association between standard measures of deprivation and sickness absence and ill-health retirement rates. To establish if a relationship exists between standard measures of deprivation, used by the UK central government to determine regional health and social welfare funding, and sickness absence and ill-health early retirement rates in English local government employers. Local authority sickness absence rates for 2001-02 were regressed against the 2004 Indices of Multiple Deprivation in a multiple regression model that also included size and type of organization as independent variables. A second model using ill-health retirement as the dependent variable was also estimated. In the full regression models, organization size was not significant and reduced models with deprivation and organization type (depending on whether teachers were employed by the organization or not) were estimated. For the sickness absence model, the adjusted R(2) was 0.20, with 17% of the variation in sickness absence rates being explained by deprivation rank. Ill-health retirement showed a similar relationship with deprivation. In both models, the deprivation coefficients were highly significant: for sickness absence [t = -7.85 (P = 0.00)] and for ill-health retirement [t = -4.79 (P = 0.00)]. A significant proportion of variation in sickness absence and ill-health retirement rates in local government in England are associated with local measures of deprivation. Recognition of the impact of deprivation on sickness absence has implications for a number of different areas of work. These include target setting for Local Government Best Value Performance Indicators, history taking in sickness absence consultations and the role of deprivation as a confounding factor in sickness absence intervention studies.

Can pre-placement health assessments predict subsequent sickness absence?

Sickness absence is a growing economic problem, due largely to the financial losses it incurs. The ability to identify employees likely to take greater than average sickness absence may provide managers with useful information at the pre-placement stage. To confirm whether specific risk factors identified at the pre-placement health assessment could predict subsequent sickness absence. A total of 400 National Health Service pre-placement health questionnaires were analysed to allocate employees to low-, medium- or high-risk categories for subsequent sickness absence, using the risk table developed by C. J. M. Poole (Can sickness absence be predicted at the pre-placement health assessment? Occup Med (Lond) 1999; 49:337-339) [1]. Subsequent sickness absence was analysed to assess if there was an association between the allocated category and sickness absence taken. Mean sickness absence hours per 1000 h worked were 22.5 (95% CI 18.2-27.2) in the low-risk group, 33.6 (27.2-40.7) in the medium-risk group and 44.7 (25.1-69.9) in the high-risk group (analysis of variance, P <or= 0.002), demonstrating a statistically significant difference in sickness absence taken in subsequent years. The results confirmed Poole's hypothesis that future sickness absence can be predicted at the pre-placement health assessment. Certain risk factors, namely female sex, age, smoking, history of at least two previous episodes of low-back pain and previous days sickness absence identified at pre-placement assessment, predict a greater than average subsequent sickness absence. However, the best model using identified risk factors only predicted 10-12% of the variation in sickness absence.

Unemployment, labor force composition and sickness absence: a panel data study

Sickness absence tends to be negatively correlated with unemployment rates. In addition to pure health effects, this may be due to moral hazard behavior by workers who are fully insured against income loss during sickness and to physicians who meet demand for medical certificates. Alternatively, it may reflect changes in the composition of the labor force, with more sickness-prone workers entering the labor force in upturns. A panel of Norwegian register data is used to analyze long-term sickness absences. The unemployment rate is shown to be negatively associated with the probability of absence, and with the number of days of sick leave. Restricting the sample to workers who are present in the whole sample period, the negative relationship between absence and unemployment becomes clearer. This indicates that procyclical variations in sickness absence are caused by established workers and not by the composition of the labor force.

Unemployment, Labour Force Composition and Sickness Absence: A Panel Data Study

Sickness absence tends to be negatively correlated with unemployment. This may suggest disciplining effects of unemployment but may also reflect changes in the composition of the labor force. A panel of Norwegian register data for the years 1990-1995 is used to analyze sickness absences lasting more than two weeks. We estimate fixed effects models of the probability of absence and the number of days on sick leave conditional on absence. The county unemployment rate is found to affect the probability of absence negatively. When restricting the sample to workers who are present in the whole sample period, the negative relationship between absence and unemployment remains. The evidence on duration goes in the same direction. This indicates that the revealed procyclical variation in sickness absence is not driven by changes in the composition of the labor force.

Variations in sickness absence and use of social benefits among pregnant women in a Swedish community 1978‐1997

Pregnancy is a well defined condition. Any possible need for sickness absence should remain unchanged over time. To investigate the relationship between rates of sickness absence during pregnancy in a long term perspective. SUBJECTS STUDIED: Two thousand nine hundred and thirty-five women consecutively delivered at the University Hospital in Linköping in 1978, 1986, 1992 and 1997. In 1986, after a period of expansion of social benefits, the proportion of sick-listed pregnant women was observed to be significantly higher (78 per cent) than in 1978 (51 per cent). Parallel to cuts in compensation, sickness absence 1997 was observed to decrease (53 per cent). The mean number of days of sickness absence per pregnant woman increased from 18.9 in 1978 to 36.5 in 1986. In 1997 the mean number of days was 18.8. The Parental benefit, available to all pregnant women, was significantly ameliorated during the period of the study. In spite of this, the mean number of sickness absence days used before delivery decreased from 11.7 days in 1978 to 6.6 days in 1997. Sickness absence among pregnant women is to a high degree sensitive to the levels of compensation in the available social benefits. A high level of reimbursement and expanded social benefits seem paradoxically to increase the sickness absence among pregnant women, but cuts in benefits lower the absence, suggesting an adaptation and a coping strategy to what seems most economically favorable for the pregnant woman and her family.

Variations in sickness absence and use of social benefits among pregnant women in a Swedish community 1978-1997

Variations in sickness absence and use of social benefits among pregnant women in a Swedish community 1978-1997

Individual Variations in Sickness Absence

Individual Variations in Sickness Absence

Individual variations in sickness absence

Individual variations in sickness absence

Harmonic Analysis Applied to Seasonal Variations in Sickness Absence

SUMMARY Harmonic analysis is used to study variations in the weekly incidence of new spells of sickness absence over a period of several years. Such an approach, using the non-homogeneous Poisson process, allows weekly fluctuations to be separated into random, seasonal and non-seasonal components. The model is illustrated by data from one industrial organization, the medical diagnosis and other factors related to sickness absence being considered. The methods developed in this study are applicable to any essentially cyclic phenomenon represented by a series of equally spaced counts.

Daily Variations in Sickness Absence

Probabilistic models describe the relationship between the day of the week on which spells of sickness absence begin and their subsequent duration, particular attention being paid to the tendency for employees to delay the return to work until after the weekend. Also, the pattern of absence inception by day of the week is studied in relation to the null hypothesis of an even distribution over the whole week for the inception of “unfitness for work”. The absence experience of a population of day workers on a five‐day week is used as illustration.

Individual variations in sickness absence.

Records of personal sickness absence, including all spells of one day9s duration or more, have been kept at this refinery for more than 20 years. The distributions of sickness spells and also calendar days of absence have been analysed for single years and also for periods of up to 20 years9 continuous service for the 1,350 hourly paid male employees. It is shown that both these measures of sickness absence are distributed among the men in an unequal fashion (negative binomial) rather than at random (Poisson) and thus resemble the distribution of industrial accidents first described almost 50 years ago. This pattern of distribution is not related to occupation or to length of service. Analysis of the distribution of lateness and absenteeism for reasons other than sickness or holidays shows that these also follow this pattern. It is postulated that this could be a principle applicable to all forms of industrial absenteeism as well as to accidents. The personal records of 187 men with continuous service from 1946 to 1965 have been studied to investigate the trends in their sickness absence over this 20-year period. In contrast to the well-recognized pattern that in any one period of time young men have more spells of absence than their older fellows, this secular study shows that sickness spells have not decreased with age. This apparent paradox is explicable by the rising national trend in sickness absence and by a high labour turnover in young men with frequent sickness spells.

Patterns of sickness absence in a railway population.

This investigation was carried out in order to obtain morbidity statistics in a large industrial population with special reference to the effects of ageing. The population chosen, the “railway research population,” consisted of a sample of Scottish railwaymen, drawn from five of the eight areas in the Scottish Region of British Railways. Only certain occupational grades were studied. Information was obtained over a period of one year by means of a detailed monthly return of (<i>a</i>) sickness absence data and (<i>b</i>) job changes. Indices of sickness absence were defined. The sickness absence experience of the railway research population was compared with that of other populations. It is a healthier group than the total insured population but differs in some respects from that of London Transport. The nature of sickness absence within the railway research population was then studied. It was shown in all but one measure used that sickness tends to increase with age, the most important factor being the increase of long episodes. Examination of the frequency distribution of the duration of sickness episodes revealed that sickness absence tends to be taken in terms of weeks off rather than days off. Analysis of the daily variation in sickness absence showed that the total absence rate increased from Monday to Friday. There was a well defined tendency for sickness to start on Mondays, and in longer episodes an additional tendency to start on Fridays. This was interpreted in terms of morale, both positive and negative. Marked differences of the same order of magnitude as those due to age were noted in the sickness experience of the various grades, related to both conditions of work and responsibility. The reasons for job changes were analysed and the grades to which men were transferred were identified. The choice of suitable grades for older workers was discussed. It was concluded that working conditions might be important factors in the type of sickness absence experienced and that comparisons with other populations might be helpful in this context. More detailed work was also called for on the psychological as well as physical aspects of the work situation for both the individual and the grade.