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Abstract
Objectives In a military context, people often have to deal with long commuting distance. The aim of the current study is to investigate to what extent commuting distances predict sickness absence among a military population.
Methods The present study is based on a dynamic cohort of active-duty military personnel of the Belgian Defence. A proportional hazard Andersen-Gill model was used to determine the effect of commuting distance on the recurrence of sickness absence, considering relevant covariates. In a second model, an interaction term for commuting and traffic congestion was introduced.
Results Higher commuting distances led to higher risk of recurring sickness absence, which was 9%, 15%, 8% and 11% higher, respectively, for distances of 5–14 km, 15–29 km, 30–59 km or >60 km compared with a distance of <5 km.
A commuting distance of 30–59 km increased the risk with 47%, 33%, 35% and 76% if the reported traffic congestion was, respectively, 5–20%, 20–40%, 40–70% and 70–100% compared with a commuting distance of <5 km and a reported traffic congestion of 0–5%. A commuting distance of >60 km increased the risk with 25% and 76%, respectively, for a reported traffic congestion of 5–20% and 70–100% compared with a commuting distance of <5 km and a reported traffic congestion of 0–5%.
Conclusions These findings support measures to reduce the distance and frequency of commuting in order to reduce sickness absence, considering for example remote working, a more responsible geographical distribution of the offices or a revision of the employees’ job-changing policies.
- Sick Leave
- Rehabilitation
- Epidemiology
- Public Health Surveillance
Data availability statement
No data are available. The dataset contains internal HR-related information on the employees of the Belgian Defence. Because of the information such as ZIP code, gender and workplace, it is not possible to exclude the possibility of identification of individuals. The data have been analysed by an internal employee with authorised access to the data. The results were used to write the manuscript.
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Data availability statement
No data are available. The dataset contains internal HR-related information on the employees of the Belgian Defence. Because of the information such as ZIP code, gender and workplace, it is not possible to exclude the possibility of identification of individuals. The data have been analysed by an internal employee with authorised access to the data. The results were used to write the manuscript.
Footnotes
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Contributors PH as the head researcher was responsible for the planning and conduct of the research and for the analysis of the data. AC as a contributor was responsible for the execution of the statistical analysis and the interpretation of the data. LG as a contributor was responsible for the draft of the general concept, for internal contacts and for the coordination of the internal processes (planning and conduct). ED as a contributor was responsible for the conception of the work and revising the draft manuscript (conception and revision). KG as a coordinator was responsible for the conception of the work, writing the draft manuscript and the interpretation of the results (planning and conduct). PH, AC, LG, ED and KG have read and approved the final manuscript. KG is the guarantor of the manuscript.
Funding This project was funded by the Belgian Defence (grant number not applicable).
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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