Table 3

Work attendance by HIV status and time period before death for 361 HIV-positive and 167 HIV-negative miners who died from natural causes

	HIV-positive (%) time, by years before death			HIV-negative (%) time, by years before death			Final year: adjusted^‡ OR or RRR (95% CI) HIV-positive versus HIV-negative
Work status	>2	Penultimate	Final	>2	Penultimate	Final
At work	78.4	76.3	61.2	81.9	76.2	72.2
Absent from work	21.6	23.7	38.8	18.1	23.8	27.8	1.70^* (1.35 to 2.15)
Medical	5.7	8.6	21.8	3.6	7.5	13.2	2.05^† (1.42 to 2.97)
Leave	13.4	13.2	14.4	12.9	14.7	12.8	1.34^† (1.06 to 1.68)
Unauthorised	2.6	1.9	2.6	1.6	1.6	1.9	1.67^† (1.19 to 2.34)
Total (person years)	669	220	191	369	85	90

↵* OR for work absence, HIV-positive versus HIV-negative.
↵† RR ratio for type of work absence relative to being at work, HIV-positive versus HIV-negative.
↵‡ Adjusted for age and calendar period.