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Risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers

The purpose of this study was to determine risk factors for the occurrence of sickness absence due to low back pain (LBP) and to evaluate prognostic factors for return to work. A longitudinal study with 1-year follow-up was conducted among 853 shipyard workers. The cohort was drawn around January 20...

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Autores principales: Alexopoulos, Evangelos C., Konstantinou, Eleni C., Bakoyannis, Giorgos, Tanagra, Dimitra, Burdorf, Alex
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer-Verlag 2008
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2527417/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18649089
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00586-008-0711-0
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author Alexopoulos, Evangelos C.
Konstantinou, Eleni C.
Bakoyannis, Giorgos
Tanagra, Dimitra
Burdorf, Alex
author_facet Alexopoulos, Evangelos C.
Konstantinou, Eleni C.
Bakoyannis, Giorgos
Tanagra, Dimitra
Burdorf, Alex
author_sort Alexopoulos, Evangelos C.
collection PubMed
description The purpose of this study was to determine risk factors for the occurrence of sickness absence due to low back pain (LBP) and to evaluate prognostic factors for return to work. A longitudinal study with 1-year follow-up was conducted among 853 shipyard workers. The cohort was drawn around January 2004 among employees in the shipyard industry. Baseline information was obtained by questionnaire on physical and psychosocial work load, need for recovery, perceived general health, musculoskeletal complaints, sickness absence, and health care use during the past year. During the 1-year follow-up for each subject medical certifications were retrieved for information on the frequency and duration of spells of sickness absence and associated diagnoses. Cox regression analyses were conducted on occurrence and on duration of sickness absence with hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) as measure of association. During the 1-year follow-up period, 14% of the population was on sick leave at least once with LBP while recurrence reached 41%. The main risk factors for sickness absence were previous absence due to a health problem other than LBP (HR 3.07; 95%CI 1.66–5.68) or previous sickness absence due to LBP (HR 6.52; 95%CI 3.16–13.46). Care seeking for LBP and lower educational level also hold significant influences (HR 2.41; 95%CI 1.45–4.01 and HR 2.46; 95%CI 1.19–5.07, respectively). Living with others, night shift and supervising duties were associated with less absenteeism due to LBP. Workers with a history of herniated disc had a significantly decreased rate of returning to work, whereas those who suffered from hand-wrist complaints and LBP returned to work faster. Prior sick leave due to LBP partly captured the effects of work-related physical and psychosocial factors on occurrence of sick leave. Our study showed that individual and job characteristics (living alone, night shift, lower education, sick leave, or care seeking during the last 12 months) influenced the decision to take sick leave due to LBP. An increased awareness of those frequently on sick leave and additional management after return to work may have a beneficial effect on the sickness absence pattern.
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spelling pubmed-25274172008-09-03 Risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers Alexopoulos, Evangelos C. Konstantinou, Eleni C. Bakoyannis, Giorgos Tanagra, Dimitra Burdorf, Alex Eur Spine J Original Article The purpose of this study was to determine risk factors for the occurrence of sickness absence due to low back pain (LBP) and to evaluate prognostic factors for return to work. A longitudinal study with 1-year follow-up was conducted among 853 shipyard workers. The cohort was drawn around January 2004 among employees in the shipyard industry. Baseline information was obtained by questionnaire on physical and psychosocial work load, need for recovery, perceived general health, musculoskeletal complaints, sickness absence, and health care use during the past year. During the 1-year follow-up for each subject medical certifications were retrieved for information on the frequency and duration of spells of sickness absence and associated diagnoses. Cox regression analyses were conducted on occurrence and on duration of sickness absence with hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) as measure of association. During the 1-year follow-up period, 14% of the population was on sick leave at least once with LBP while recurrence reached 41%. The main risk factors for sickness absence were previous absence due to a health problem other than LBP (HR 3.07; 95%CI 1.66–5.68) or previous sickness absence due to LBP (HR 6.52; 95%CI 3.16–13.46). Care seeking for LBP and lower educational level also hold significant influences (HR 2.41; 95%CI 1.45–4.01 and HR 2.46; 95%CI 1.19–5.07, respectively). Living with others, night shift and supervising duties were associated with less absenteeism due to LBP. Workers with a history of herniated disc had a significantly decreased rate of returning to work, whereas those who suffered from hand-wrist complaints and LBP returned to work faster. Prior sick leave due to LBP partly captured the effects of work-related physical and psychosocial factors on occurrence of sick leave. Our study showed that individual and job characteristics (living alone, night shift, lower education, sick leave, or care seeking during the last 12 months) influenced the decision to take sick leave due to LBP. An increased awareness of those frequently on sick leave and additional management after return to work may have a beneficial effect on the sickness absence pattern. Springer-Verlag 2008-07-23 2008-09 /pmc/articles/PMC2527417/ /pubmed/18649089 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00586-008-0711-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2008 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Alexopoulos, Evangelos C.
Konstantinou, Eleni C.
Bakoyannis, Giorgos
Tanagra, Dimitra
Burdorf, Alex
Risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers
title Risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers
title_full Risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers
title_fullStr Risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers
title_full_unstemmed Risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers
title_short Risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers
title_sort risk factors for sickness absence due to low back pain and prognostic factors for return to work in a cohort of shipyard workers
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2527417/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18649089
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00586-008-0711-0
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