Table 1

Distribution of risk factors in study sample and cumulative prevalence of new COVID-19 sickness absence from 9 March to 31 July 2020

Risk factor	Frequency of risk factor in study sample		Any COVID-19 sickness absence starting 9 March to 31 July 2020		Any prolonged‡ COVID-19 sickness absence starting 9 March to 16 July 2020
Risk factor	N	(%)*	N	(%)†	N	(%)†
Sex
Female	696 357	77.1	72 420	10.4	16 413	2.4
Male	206 456	22.9	20 460	9.9	4575	2.2
Age (years)
<30	109 277	12.1	12 941	11.8	1587	1.5
30–34	107 563	11.9	12 043	11.2	1954	1.8
35–39	103 499	11.5	10 830	10.5	2111	2.0
40–44	113 523	12.6	12 421	10.9	2752	2.4
45–49	125 802	13.9	13 863	11.0	3572	2.8
50–54	133 721	14.8	13 403	10.0	3686	2.8
55–60	133 908	14.8	11 732	8.8	3375	2.5
>60	75 520	8.4	5647	7.5	1951	2.6
Ethnicity
White	687 174	76.1	63 630	9.3	12 495	1.8
South Asian	61 861	6.9	8033	13.0	2376	3.8
Other or unspecified Asian	37 956	4.2	7402	19.5	2273	6.0
Black	54 267	6.0	6705	12.4	2054	3.8
Mixed	16 026	1.8	1838	11.5	385	2.4
Other	12 937	1.4	1982	15.3	622	4.8
Unknown	32 592	3.6	3290	10.1	783	2.4
Episodes of sickness absence in 2019
0	302 258	33.5	20 840	6.9	4361	1.4
1	234 871	26.0	22 805	9.7	5242	2.2
2–3	267 763	29.7	33 707	12.6	7972	3.0
>3	97 921	10.8	15 528	15.9	3413	3.5
Staff group at 9 March 2020
Administrative and clerical	193 983	21.5	11 236	5.8	2340	1.2
Additional clinical services	176 558	19.6	23 967	13.6	6148	3.5
Additional professional scientific and technical	40 874	4.5	2960	7.2	509	1.2
Allied health professionals	67 067	7.4	7584	11.3	1192	1.8
Estates and ancillary	58 313	6.5	4684	8.0	1212	2.1
Healthcare scientists	20 657	2.3	1492	7.2	241	1.2
Medical and dental	76 184	8.4	6203	8.1	1061	1.4
Nursing and midwifery registered	265 486	29.4	34 390	13.0	8232	3.1
Students	1797	0.2	201	11.2	24	1.3
Multiple or unknown	1894	0.2	163	8.6	29	1.5
Exposure category at 9 March 2020§
Care of patients much more likely to have COVID-19 than general population	64 977	7.2	9004	13.9	1514	2.3
Care for patients who may be more likely to have COVID-19 than general population	292 692	32.4	41 808	14.3	10 651	3.6
Care of patients with similar or lower prevalence of COVID-19 than general population	250 863	27.8	22 262	8.9	4682	1.9
No patient care but often in areas where patients have higher prevalence of COVID-19 than general population	554	0.1	39	7.0	11	2.0
No patient care but often in areas where patients have similar or lower prevalence of COVID-19 than general population	16 295	1.8	1686	10.3	246	1.5
No patient care, occasionally in patient areas	155 963	17.3	10 944	7.0	2538	1.6
Unlikely to be in patient areas, but work with material potentially contaminated by COVID-19	23 659	2.6	1976	8.4	344	1.5
Other or unknown	97 810	10.8	5161	5.3	1002	1.0

*Prevalence % in study sample (total N=902 813).
†Prevalence % among those with risk factor.
‡Prolonged COVID-19 sickness absence defined as episodes lasting >14 days.
§Exposure categories as specified in job-exposure matrix. For more information see online supplemental file A.