Job Strain and Long-Term Sickness Absence from Work: A Ten-Year Prospective Study in German Working Population

Miriam Mutambudzi, Töres Theorell, Jian Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective:The aim of this study was to examine the prospective associations between baseline job strain and 10-year cumulative incidence of long-term sickness absence (LTSA) in the German workforce.Methods:This study used longitudinal data from the 2001 to 2011 waves of The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) (n=9794). Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to examine the prospective association between job strain and incidence of LTSA.Results:High strain [hazard ratio (HR)=1.28, 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=1.12 to 1.46] and passive jobs (HR=1.14, 95% CI=1.01 to 1.30) were significantly associated with LTSA after full adjustment for covariates, with greater risk in the older participants (>45) in passive (HR=1.33, 95% CI=1.08 to 1.63) and high strain (HR=1.56, 95% CI=1.27 to 1.92) jobs.Conclusion:Jobs with low control over work were associated with LTSA in German workers. More studies using longitudinal employment data, and more detailed job strain measures are warranted.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)278-284
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Volume61
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 1 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • German workforce
  • job control
  • job strain
  • long-term sickness absence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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