Risk factors assessed at baseline predicting sick leave because of neck or back pain at the 3-year follow-up
| Risk factors* | n | Cases† | Crude OR | Adjusted OR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic/background factors, lifestyle factors, health-related and pain characteristics, physical factors in the work environment and psychosocial factors were considered during the successive selection process for predictors. | ||||
| *The factors measured at baseline that were not retained in the model were sex, age, back pain during the previous year, citizenship at birth, hazardous alcohol consumption, smoking, sick leave (all causes except neck or back pain), exhaustion (Maslach Burnout Inventory), whole-body vibrations, perceived exertion at work, repeated work procedures and exposure to bullying. | ||||
| †The number of participants reporting sick leave due to neck or back pain. | ||||
| ‡From the SF-36.34,35 Higher scores indicate better functioning. Range 0–100. | ||||
| §Higher score means more of the characteristics described. Range 1–5. | ||||
| Employment grade | ||||
| Blue-collar | 1130 | 108 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| White-collar | 370 | 13 | 0.35 (0.19 to 0.62) | 0.39 (0.21 to 0.72) |
| Neck pain during the previous year | ||||
| No | 863 | 52 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Yes, one time | 154 | 6 | 0.63 (0.27 to 1.50) | 0.61 (0.26 to 1.46) |
| Yes, several times | 483 | 63 | 2.34 (1.59 to 3.44) | 1.87 (1.24 to 2.81) |
| Physical activities in leisure time except exercise (eg, cleaning, gardening, etc) | ||||
| No activity | 70 | 13 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| <30 min/day | 456 | 37 | 0.39 (0.19 to 0.77) | 0.42 (0.21 to 0.87) |
| >1 h/day | 974 | 71 | 0.35 (0.18 to 0.66) | 0.37 (0.19 to 0.73) |
| Physical functioning (SF-36)‡ | ||||
| Lowest category (1) >95 | 739 | 37 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| (2) 90–95 | 351 | 25 | 1.46 (0.86 to 2.46) | 1.33 (0.78 to 2.26) |
| (3) ⩽90 | 410 | 59 | 3.19 (2.07 to 4.91) | 2.44 (1.55 to 3.84) |
| Decision demands at work§ | ||||
| Lowest quartile (1) 1.00–2.50 | 350 | 32 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| (2) 2.51–3.00 | 405 | 31 | 0.82 (0.49 to 1.38) | 0.95 (0.56 to 1.61) |
| (3) 3.01–3.99 | 445 | 46 | 1.15 (0.71 to 1.84) | 1.37 (0.84 to 2.25) |
| (4) 4.00–5.00 | 300 | 12 | 0.41 (0.21 to 0.82) | 0.55 (0.27 to 1.11) |