How to measure sickness absence? Literature review and suggestion of five basic measures

Hensing, Gunnel; Alexanderson, Kristina; Allebeck, Peter; Bjurulf, Per

doi:10.1177/14034948980260020201

Cited by 184 publications

(176 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Hensing et al [29] have provided five basic SA measures for research on the population level. However, international agreement on SA measures on the individual level, for example on the definitions of shortterm and long-term SA, is lacking.…”

Section: Rtw Rates In Different Categories Of Mental Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employees Sick-Listed with Mental Disorders: Who Returns to Work and When?

et al. 2012

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Purpose To investigate return to work (RTW) in employees sick-listed with mental disorders classified according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Methods Sickness absences (SA) medically certified as emotional disturbance (ICD-10 R45) or mental and behavioral disorders (ICD-10 F00-F99) were retrieved from an occupational health service register. RTW was associated with age, gender, and socioeconomic position (SEP) by parametric survival analysis. Results Emotional, neurotic, somatoform, stress-related, and mood disorders encompassed 94 % of all mental SA. Employees with emotional disturbance had the highest RTW rates: after 1 year 95 % had resumed work and after 2 years 98 % compared to 89 and 96 % of employees with neurotic, somatoform and stress-related disorders, and 70 and 86 % of employees with mood disorders. The probability of RTW decreased after 1 month of SA due to emotional disturbance, 2 months of SA with neurotic, somatoform and stress-related disorders, and 3 months of SA with mood disorders. Women resumed their work later than men. Young employees presenting with emotional disturbance, neurotic, somatoform, and stress-related disorders had earlier RTW than older employees and low-SEP employees had earlier RTW than high-SEP employees. Conclusions RTW rates and probabilities differed across categories of mental disorders. Age and SEP were associated with RTW of employees with emotional, neurotic, somatoform, and stress-related disorders, but not with RTW of employees experiencing mood disorders. To maximize the likelihood of RTW, a focus on RTW is important in the first months after reporting sick with mental disorders.

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Section: Rtw Rates In Different Categories Of Mental Disordersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Employees Sick-Listed with Mental Disorders: Who Returns to Work and When?

et al. 2012

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“…the population at work and not the general population, etc. As Hensing et al strongly recommend, the research field would gain from better standardization in the measures used [41], and the contributions of this Scandinavian research group are seminal.…”

Section: Sickness Absencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…(3) Recommended measures. Hensing et al [41] recommended five measures for sick leave that have become a bit of a reference standard in clinical and epidemiological literature on spinal disorders. Not all measures make sense in every outcome study; however, they make more sense in studies that include follow-ups and a control group, or representative reference dates of the population under study.…”

Section: Measurement Problems and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work-related outcome assessment instruments

Elfering

2005

Eur Spine J

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Prevention of work disability is a primary goal within treatment of spinal disorders. Workrelated outcome measures therefore are essential indices within evidencebased medicine. So far many measures suffer, however, from standardized measurement, standardized terminology, and a lack of theoretical background. This review addresses traditional indicators like work status and sickness absence, and discusses more theory-bound concepts, i.e. work ability, occupational risk factors for recurrence of symptoms and re-injury, work-related attitudes that may become obstacles to recovery, and individual reactions to occupational stressors that increase the risk of maintenance and recurrence of symptoms. The review includes methodological and theoretical considerations and recommendations for the use of workrelated outcome measures in future outcome research.

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“…Some studies reported on SA as a dichotomous (yes/no) outcome (Kouzis and Eaton 1994;Laitinen-Krispijn and Bijl 2000;Bültmann et al 2005;Eriksen et al 2003;Ahola et al 2008;Krantz and Ostergren 2002), others reported on the frequency of SA spells (Kivimäki et al 2001(Kivimäki et al , 2007Väänänen et al 2003;Duijts et al 2006) or the total number of SA days (Kessler and Frank 1997;Dewa and Lin 2000;Suija et al 2009;Kruijshaar et al 2003;Broadhead et al 1990;Andrea et al 2003;Ahola et al 2008). Few studies analyzed SA both in terms of frequency and duration as recommended by Hensing et al (1998). SA was either established by self-report (Hilton et al 2008;Kessler and Frank 1997;Dewa and Lin 2000;Kouzis and Eaton 1994;Suija et al 2009;Kruijshaar et al 2003;Broadhead et al 1990;Jenkins 1985;Laitinen-Krispijn and Bijl 2000;Eriksen et al 2003;Borritz et al 2006) or by organizational absence records (Bültmann et al 2005(Bültmann et al , 2006Virtanen et al 2007;Kivimäki et al 2001Kivimäki et al , 2007Bourbonnais and Mondor 2001;Andrea et al 2003;Väänänen et al 2003;Lexis et al 2009;Duijts et al 2006;…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological symptoms and subsequent sickness absence

Terluin

Rhenen²,

Anema

et al. 2011

Int Arch Occup Environ Health

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Purpose Mental health problems are associated with sickness absence (SA). The present study aimed at establishing which symptoms-distress, depression, anxiety, or somatization-at which symptom levels were associated with SA frequency and duration. Moreover, a number of possible confounders or effect modifiers were taken into account. Methods A survey was completed by 3,678 employees of a large Dutch telecom company. Symptoms were measured using the Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ). SA data were registered by the company's occupational health service during the 12 months' period following the survey. Poisson regression was used to analyze the number of SA spells (SA frequency). Negative binomial regression was used to analyze the total number of SA days (SA duration). Results In the bivariate analyses distress, depression, anxiety, and somatization impacted on SA frequency and duration. In the multivariate analyses, anxiety and depression turned out not to be directly associated with SA, suggesting that the effect of anxiety and depression was due to the association between anxiety/depression and distress/somatization. Regarding the SA frequency, the rate ratio for 'subclinical' distress was 1.13 (95% CI 1.03-1.25), for 'clinical' distress 1.26 (1.08-1.47), for 'subclinical' somatization 1.34 (1.23-1.46), and for 'clinical' somatization 1.69 (1.46-1.95). Regarding the SA duration, the count ratio for 'subclinical' distress was 1.15 (95% CI 0.91-1.44), for 'clinical' distress 1.50 (1.04-2.16), for 'subclinical' somatization 1.34 (1.10-1.64), and for 'clinical' somatization 1.45 (1.04-2.03). Conclusions Somatization and distress are key to understand why depression and anxiety are related to SA.

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How to measure sickness absence? Literature review and suggestion of five basic measures

Abstract: We have reviewed sick-leave measures previously used in the literature and suggested five basic measures for assessing sick-leave.

Cited by 184 publications

References 23 publications

Employees Sick-Listed with Mental Disorders: Who Returns to Work and When?

Employees Sick-Listed with Mental Disorders: Who Returns to Work and When?

Work-related outcome assessment instruments

Psychological symptoms and subsequent sickness absence

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