The association between part-time and temporary employment and sickness absence: a prospective Swedish twin study

BACKGROUND: Sickness absence (SA) is becoming a major economic problem in many countries. Our aim was to investigate whether type of employment, including temporary employment or part-time employment, is associated with SA while controlling for familial factors (genetic and shared environment). Differences between men and women and across employment sectors were explored. METHODS: This is a prospective twin study based on 21 105 twins born in Sweden 1959–85. The participants completed a survey in 2005 with follow-up of SA (≥15 days), using register data, until end of 2013. The data were analyzed with logistic regression, with results presented as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: Temporary employment involved higher odds of SA (OR=1.21 95% CI=1.04–1.40) compared to full-time employment. Both part-time workers (OR=0.84 95% CI=0.74–0.95) and the self-employed (OR=0.77 95%CI=0.62–0.94) had lower odds of SA. Stratifying by sex showed lower odds for part-timers (OR=0.82 95% CI=0.73–0.94) and self-employed women (OR=0.65 95% CI=0.47–0.90), but higher odds for men in temporary employment (OR=1.33 95% CI=1.03–1.72). Temporary employees in county councils (OR=1.73 95% CI=1.01–2.99) and municipalities (OR=1.41 95% CI=1.02–1.96) had higher odds while part-timers employed in the private sector had lower odds (OR=0.77 95% CI=0.64–0.93). Familial factors did not confound the association between employment type and SA. CONCLUSIONS: Employment type is associated with SA, with temporary employment involving a higher risk compared to permanent full-time employment while both part-time employment and self-employment involved a lower risk. The associations vary between women and men and across sectors.