Table 3
Baseline characteristics and sickness absence in the intervention and control (usual care) groups in RCT 1 (occupational health
intervention for the high risk group) and RCT 2 (telephone advice for the intermediate risk group)
| Group allocation | ||||
| Intermediate risk (IR) | High risk (HR) | |||
| Control (IR-CG) | Intervention (IR-IG) | Control (HR-CG) | Intervention (HR-IG) | |
| Baseline | ||||
| n | 269 | 268 | 209 | 209 |
| Mean age (years) | 42.9 | 42.8 | 46.8 | 46.7 |
| Sex (female; %) | 12 | 13 | 6 | 6 |
| Blue-collar (%) | 57 | 58 | 80 | 77 |
| Sickness absence | ||||
| None (% within group) | 60 | 55 | 43 | 34 |
| Mean (days) | 4.6 | 5.9 | 17.9 | 19.7 |
| Standard deviation | 9.5 | 11.5 | 36.3 | 37.0 |
| Median (days) | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Upper quartile (days) | 5 | 6 | 18 | 20 |
| Maximum (days) | 72 | 70 | 229 | 221 |
| Sum (days) | 1246 | 1581 | 3736 | 4115 |
| Employment terminated during follow-up (%) | 5.6 | 6.3 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| 1 year follow-up | ||||
| n | 254 | 251 | 192 | 192 |
| Sickness absence | ||||
| None (% within group) | 46 | 45 | 23 | 31 |
| Mean (days) | 6.9 | 7.0 | 29.9 | 19.3 |
| Standard deviation | 14.3 | 12.4 | 53.3 | 44.0 |
| Median (days) | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 |
| Upper quartile (days) | 7 | 7 | 32 | 15 |
| Maximum (days) | 115 | 73 | 286 | 365 |
| Sum (days) | 1755 | 1751 | 5744 | 3702 |
