Sickness Absence and Disability Pension in the Trade and Retail Industry: A Prospective Cohort Study of 192,000 White-Collar Workers in Sweden

This study aimed to investigate future sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP) among privately employed white-collar employees in the trade and retail industry. METHODS: A prospective population-based cohort study of all 192,077 such workers in Sweden in 2012, using linked microdata from nationwide registers, was conducted. Descriptive statistics of annual SA/DP during 2010 to 2016 and logistic regression for SA/DP in 2016 were used. RESULTS: Women had more mean SA/DP net days/person; however, there were no sex differences in the mean number of net days/person with SA/DP. The mean number of net days/person increased, especially with mental diagnoses. Sickness absence in 2012 was the strongest factor associated with SA/DP in 2016 (women: odds ratio, 3.28; 95% confidence interval, 3.09–3.47; men: odds ratio, 4.10; 95% confidence interval, 3.76–4.48). Work-related factors were weakly associated with future SA/DP. CONCLUSIONS: The number of SA/DP net days per person increased, especially SA/DP days due to mental diagnoses.