Associations of personal characteristics with prolonged sickness absence (> 5 days in total) in past 12 months because of musculoskeletal pain
| Cases* | Model 1† | Model 2† | Model 3† | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk factor | Number in sample | N | (%) | PRR | (95% CI) | PRR | (95% CI) | PRR | (95% CI) |
| Sex | |||||||||
| Male | 4348 | 235 | (5.4) | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Female | 8068 | 705 | (8.7) | 1.17 | (1.00 to 1.37) | 1.18 | (1.01 to 1.38) | 1.02 | (0.88 to 1.19) |
| Age (years) | |||||||||
| 20–29 | 3058 | 139 | (4.5) | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 30–39 | 3971 | 283 | (7.1) | 1.51 | (1.18 to 1.94) | 1.50 | (1.16 to 1.93) | 1.35 | (1.06 to 1.73) |
| 40–49 | 3451 | 308 | (8.9) | 1.74 | (1.35 to 2.23) | 1.72 | (1.33 to 2.23) | 1.38 | (1.08 to 1.77) |
| 50–59 | 1936 | 210 | (10.8) | 2.13 | (1.72 to 2.63) | 2.08 | (1.67 to 2.60) | 1.60 | (1.29 to 1.98) |
| Age finished full-time education (years) | |||||||||
| ≥20 | 7244 | 486 | (6.7) | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 17–19 | 3374 | 263 | (7.8) | 1.18 | (0.98 to 1.42) | 1.17 | (0.97 to 1.41) | 1.15 | (0.96 to 1.38) |
| 14–16 | 1269 | 130 | (10.2) | 1.29 | (0.99 to 1.68) | 1.27 | (0.97 to 1.65) | 1.28 | (1.00 to 1.65) |
| <14 | 470 | 57 | (12.1) | 1.35 | (0.90 to 2.02) | 1.33 | (0.90 to 1.97) | 1.21 | (0.82 to 1.78) |
| Unknown | 59 | 4 | (6.8) | 0.79 | (0.28 to 2.19) | 0.80 | (0.30 to 2.16) | 0.97 | (0.36 to 2.56) |
| Number of distressing somatic symptoms in past week | |||||||||
| 0 | 7399 | 392 | (5.3) | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 1 | 2609 | 212 | (8.1) | 1.23 | (1.05 to 1.45) | 1.22 | (1.04 to 1.43) | 1.09 | (0.93 to 1.27) |
| 2+ | 2286 | 318 | (13.9) | 1.69 | (1.46 to 1.97) | 1.62 | (1.39 to 1.89) | 1.24 | (1.08 to 1.44) |
| Missing | 122 | 18 | (14.8) | 1.30 | (0.86 to 1.97) | 1.29 | (0.85 to 1.94) | 1.17 | (0.76 to 1.81) |
| Mental health | |||||||||
| Good | 4700 | 295 | (6.3) | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Intermediate | 3756 | 269 | (7.2) | 1.14 | (0.98 to 1.32) | 1.13 | (0.98 to 1.31) | 1.06 | (0.92 to 1.22) |
| Poor | 3885 | 366 | (9.4) | 1.39 | (1.21 to 1.60) | 1.36 | (1.19 to 1.57) | 1.19 | (1.04 to 1.35) |
| Missing | 75 | 10 | (13.3) | 1.75 | (0.83 to 3.68) | 1.85 | (0.89 to 3.82) | 1.63 | (0.76 to 3.52) |
| Number of physically loading activities | |||||||||
| 0 | 874 | 35 | (4.0) | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 1 | 2198 | 94 | (4.3) | 1.11 | (0.77 to 1.58) | 1.11 | (0.78 to 1.58) | 0.99 | (0.70 to 1.40) |
| 2 | 3711 | 253 | (6.8) | 1.37 | (0.94 to 1.99) | 1.37 | (0.94 to 1.98) | 1.16 | (0.78 to 1.71) |
| 3 | 3068 | 286 | (9.3) | 1.71 | (1.20 to 2.44) | 1.72 | (1.21 to 2.44) | 1.38 | (0.96 to 1.99) |
| 4 | 1750 | 165 | (9.4) | 1.69 | (1.18 to 2.41) | 1.68 | (1.18 to 2.40) | 1.30 | (0.90 to 1.88) |
| 5 | 815 | 107 | (13.1) | 2.09 | (1.44 to 3.03) | 2.10 | (1.45 to 3.02) | 1.49 | (1.02 to 2.18) |
| Psychosocial aspects of work | |||||||||
| Work >50 hours per week | 2664 | 106 | (4.0) | 0.84 | (0.65 to 1.09) | 0.84 | (0.65 to 1.09) | 0.90 | (0.69 to 1.17) |
| Time pressure at work | 9341 | 785 | (8.4) | 1.27 | (1.06 to 1.52) | 1.27 | (1.06 to 1.52) | 1.23 | (1.03 to 1.46) |
| Lack of support at work | 3013 | 296 | (9.8) | 1.08 | (0.93 to 1.25) | 1.09 | (0.94 to 1.25) | 1.03 | (0.89 to 1.18) |
| Job dissatisfaction | 2535 | 223 | (8.8) | 1.22 | (1.05 to 1.42) | 1.22 | (1.04 to 1.41) | 1.10 | (0.95 to 1.27) |
| Lack of job control | 2663 | 250 | (9.4) | 1.06 | (0.95 to 1.18) | 1.05 | (0.94 to 1.17) | 1.04 | (0.94 to 1.16) |
| Job insecurity | 3912 | 277 | (7.1) | 0.90 | (0.79 to 1.03) | 0.91 | (0.79 to 1.04) | 0.89 | (0.78 to 1.02) |
| Adverse beliefs about musculoskeletal pain | |||||||||
| Work-relatedness | 4870 | 470 | (9.7) | 1.24 | (1.10 to 1.39) | 1.23 | (1.09 to 1.38) | 1.10 | (0.98 to 1.24) |
| Physical activity | 2576 | 219 | (8.5) | 1.14 | (0.97 to 1.33) | 1.13 | (0.97 to 1.33) | 1.18 | (1.02 to 1.37) |
| Prognosis | 2079 | 240 | (11.5) | 1.40 | (1.19 to 1.65) | 1.38 | (1.17 to 1.62) | 1.23 | (1.06 to 1.44) |
| >5 days absence in past 12 months for other illness | 1226 | 194 | (15.8) | 1.54 | (1.22 to 1.95) | 1.43 | (1.16 to 1.77) | ||
| Number of anatomical sites painful for ≥7 days in past 12 months | |||||||||
| 0–1 | 7765 | 274 | (3.5) | 1 | |||||
| 2 | 1530 | 138 | (9.0) | 2.16 | (1.78 to 2.62) | ||||
| 3 | 1468 | 170 | (11.6) | 2.67 | (2.21 to 3.22) | ||||
| 4 | 975 | 159 | (16.3) | 3.40 | (2.86 to 4.03) | ||||
| 5 | 462 | 129 | (27.9) | 4.55 | (3.78 to 5.48) | ||||
| 6 | 216 | 70 | (32.4) | 4.98 | (3.85 to 6.44) | ||||
*Number (%) of cases among those exposed to risk factor.
†Risk estimates derived from a single Poisson regression model incorporating all variables for which results are presented.
PRR, prevalence rate ratio.