Sickness absence figures by absence type, and hazard ratios for medically certified absence spells among employees with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and psychiatric disorders compared with the disease-free population using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age, sex and occupational group
| Patient group* | Number of participants*(prevalence %) | Number of absence days (median,interquartile range) | Number of self-certified episodes (rate per 100 person-years) | Number of medically certified episodes (rate per 100 person-years) | Adjusted HR (95% CI)for first medically certified episode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FM, fibromyalgia; OA, osteoarthritis; RA, rheumatoid arthritis. | |||||
| *Patient groups overlap as a person may have several chronic conditions. | |||||
| †Those with no diagnosed OA, RA, depression, other psychiatric disorders or FM. | |||||
| All (n = 34 100) | |||||
| No chronic disease† | 25 821 (75.7) | 278 775 (3, 0 to 11) | 32 122 (127.7) | 15 274 (60.7) | 1 |
| OA or RA | 5035 (14.8) | 125 524 (8, 1 to 29) | 7152 (145.1) | 5673 (115.1) | 1.85 (1.77 to 1.93) |
| Depression or other psychiatric disorder | 4077 (12) | 105 639 (10, 2 to 31) | 7582 (191.4) | 4849 (122.4) | 1.89 (1.68 to 2.13) |
| FM | 644 (1.9) | 20 224 (14, 3 to 40) | 1129 (180.5) | 964 (154.2) | 2.33 (2.11 to 2.57) |
| Women (n = 27 360) | |||||
| No chronic disease† | 20 503 (74.9) | 234 188 (4, 0 to 12) | 27 902 (139.9) | 12 894 (64.7) | 1 |
| OA or RA | 4155 (15.2) | 107 048 (9, 2 to 31) | 6319 (155.5) | 4834 (118.9) | 1.85 (1.76 to 1.94) |
| Depression or other psychiatric disorder | 3378 (12.4) | 90 403 (11, 3 to 32) | 6626 (202.1) | 4187 (127.7) | 1.94 (1.84 to 2.03) |
| FM | 597 (2.2) | 19 614 (16, 3 to 41) | 1085 (187.2) | 934 (161.2) | 2.40 (2.16 to 2.65) |
| Men (n = 6740) | |||||
| No chronic disease† | 5318 (78.9) | 44 587 (1, 0 to 7) | 4220 (81.0) | 2380 (45.7) | 1 |
| OA or RA | 880 (13.1) | 18 476 (5, 0 to 22) | 833 (96.4) | 839 (97.1) | 1.79 (1.61 to 2.17) |
| Depression or other psychiatric disorder | 699 (10.4) | 15 236 (6, 0 to 23) | 956 (140.1) | 662 (97.0) | 1.95 (1.73 to 2.20) |
| FM | 47 (0.7) | 610 (3, 0 to 14) | 44 (95.9) | 30 (65.4) | 1.59 (1.02 to 2.48) |