Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort study
Summary: Background: Lifestyle factors influence the risk of morbidity and mortality, but the extent to which they are associated with employees' absence from work due to illness is unclear. We examined the relative contributions of smoking, alcohol consumption, high body-mass index, and low p...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2018-11-01
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| Series: | The Lancet Public Health |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468266718302019 |
| _version_ | 1811288086601007104 |
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| author | Marianna Virtanen, ProfPhD Jenni Ervasti, PhD Jenny Head, ProfMSc Tuula Oksanen, MD Paula Salo, ProfPhD Jaana Pentti, MSc Anne Kouvonen, ProfPhD Ari Väänänen, ProfPhD Sakari Suominen, ProfMD Markku Koskenvuo, ProfMD Jussi Vahtera, ProfMD Marko Elovainio, ProfPhD Marie Zins, MD Marcel Goldberg, ProfMD Mika Kivimäki, ProfFMedSci |
| author_facet | Marianna Virtanen, ProfPhD Jenni Ervasti, PhD Jenny Head, ProfMSc Tuula Oksanen, MD Paula Salo, ProfPhD Jaana Pentti, MSc Anne Kouvonen, ProfPhD Ari Väänänen, ProfPhD Sakari Suominen, ProfMD Markku Koskenvuo, ProfMD Jussi Vahtera, ProfMD Marko Elovainio, ProfPhD Marie Zins, MD Marcel Goldberg, ProfMD Mika Kivimäki, ProfFMedSci |
| author_sort | Marianna Virtanen, ProfPhD |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Background: Lifestyle factors influence the risk of morbidity and mortality, but the extent to which they are associated with employees' absence from work due to illness is unclear. We examined the relative contributions of smoking, alcohol consumption, high body-mass index, and low physical activity to diagnosis-specific sickness absence. Methods: We did a multicohort study with individual-level data of participants of four cohorts from the UK, France, and Finland. Participants' responses to a lifestyle survey were linked to records of sickness absence episodes, typically lasting longer than 9 days; for each diagnostic category, the outcome was the total number of sickness absence days per year. We estimated the associations between lifestyle factors and sickness absence by calculating rate ratios for the number of sickness absence days per year and combining cohort-specific estimates with meta-analysis. The criteria for assessing the evidence included the strength of association, consistency across cohorts, robustness to adjustments and multiple testing, and impact assessment by use of population attributable fractions (PAF), with both internal lifestyle factor prevalence estimates and those obtained from European populations (PAFexternal). Findings: For 74 296 participants, during 446 478 person-years at risk, the most common diagnoses for sickness absence were musculoskeletal diseases (70·9 days per 10 person-years), depressive disorders (26·5 days per 10 person-years), and external causes (such as injuries and poisonings; 12·8 days per 10 person-years). Being overweight (rate ratio [adjusted for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and chronic disease at baseline] 1·30, 95% CI 1·21–1·40; PAFexternal 8·9%) and low physical activity (1·23, 1·14–1·34; 7·8%) were associated with absences due to musculoskeletal diseases; heavy episodic drinking (1·90, 1·41–2·56; 15·2%), smoking (1·70, 1·42–2·03; 11·8%), low physical activity (1·67, 1·42–1·96; 19·8%), and obesity (1·38, 1·11–1·71; 5·6%) were associated with absences due to depressive disorders; heavy episodic drinking (1·64, 1·33–2·03; 11·3%), obesity (1·48, 1·27–1·72; 6·6%), smoking (1·35, 1·20–1·53; 6·3%), and being overweight (1·20, 1·08–1·33; 6·2%) were associated with absences due to external causes; obesity (1·82, 1·40–2·36; 11·0%) and smoking (1·60, 1·30–1·98; 10·3%) were associated with absences due to circulatory diseases; low physical activity (1·37, 1·25–1·49; 12·0%) and smoking (1·27, 1·16–1·40; 4·9%) were associated with absences due to respiratory diseases; and obesity (1·67, 1·34–2·07; 9·7%) was associated with absences due to digestive diseases. Interpretation: Lifestyle factors are associated with sickness absence due to several diseases, but observational data cannot determine the nature of these associations. Future studies should investigate the cost-effectiveness of lifestyle interventions aimed at reducing sickness absence and the use of information on lifestyle for identifying groups at risk. Funding: NordForsk, British Medical Research Council, Academy of Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, and Economic and Social Research Council. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:30:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a1b46ef3fa024651b3109ac92f364fb5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2468-2667 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T03:30:23Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Lancet Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-a1b46ef3fa024651b3109ac92f364fb52022-12-22T03:04:31ZengElsevierThe Lancet Public Health2468-26672018-11-01311e545e554Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort studyMarianna Virtanen, ProfPhD0Jenni Ervasti, PhD1Jenny Head, ProfMSc2Tuula Oksanen, MD3Paula Salo, ProfPhD4Jaana Pentti, MSc5Anne Kouvonen, ProfPhD6Ari Väänänen, ProfPhD7Sakari Suominen, ProfMD8Markku Koskenvuo, ProfMD9Jussi Vahtera, ProfMD10Marko Elovainio, ProfPhD11Marie Zins, MD12Marcel Goldberg, ProfMD13Mika Kivimäki, ProfFMedSci14Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden; Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki and Turku, Finland; Correspondence to: Prof Marianna Virtanen, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, University of Uppsala, 752 37 Uppsala, SwedenFinnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki and Turku, FinlandDepartment of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UKFinnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki and Turku, FinlandFinnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki and Turku, Finland; Department of Psychology, University of Turku, Turku, FinlandDepartment of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, FinlandFaculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Wroclaw, PolandFinnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki and Turku, Finland; School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, UKDepartment of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden; Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, FinlandClinicum, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, FinlandDepartment of Public Health, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, FinlandDepartment of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, FinlandInserm, Population-based Epidemiologic Cohorts Unit UMS 011, Villejuif, France; Paris Descartes University, Paris, FranceInserm, Population-based Epidemiologic Cohorts Unit UMS 011, Villejuif, France; Paris Descartes University, Paris, FranceDepartment of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK; Clinicum, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, FinlandSummary: Background: Lifestyle factors influence the risk of morbidity and mortality, but the extent to which they are associated with employees' absence from work due to illness is unclear. We examined the relative contributions of smoking, alcohol consumption, high body-mass index, and low physical activity to diagnosis-specific sickness absence. Methods: We did a multicohort study with individual-level data of participants of four cohorts from the UK, France, and Finland. Participants' responses to a lifestyle survey were linked to records of sickness absence episodes, typically lasting longer than 9 days; for each diagnostic category, the outcome was the total number of sickness absence days per year. We estimated the associations between lifestyle factors and sickness absence by calculating rate ratios for the number of sickness absence days per year and combining cohort-specific estimates with meta-analysis. The criteria for assessing the evidence included the strength of association, consistency across cohorts, robustness to adjustments and multiple testing, and impact assessment by use of population attributable fractions (PAF), with both internal lifestyle factor prevalence estimates and those obtained from European populations (PAFexternal). Findings: For 74 296 participants, during 446 478 person-years at risk, the most common diagnoses for sickness absence were musculoskeletal diseases (70·9 days per 10 person-years), depressive disorders (26·5 days per 10 person-years), and external causes (such as injuries and poisonings; 12·8 days per 10 person-years). Being overweight (rate ratio [adjusted for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and chronic disease at baseline] 1·30, 95% CI 1·21–1·40; PAFexternal 8·9%) and low physical activity (1·23, 1·14–1·34; 7·8%) were associated with absences due to musculoskeletal diseases; heavy episodic drinking (1·90, 1·41–2·56; 15·2%), smoking (1·70, 1·42–2·03; 11·8%), low physical activity (1·67, 1·42–1·96; 19·8%), and obesity (1·38, 1·11–1·71; 5·6%) were associated with absences due to depressive disorders; heavy episodic drinking (1·64, 1·33–2·03; 11·3%), obesity (1·48, 1·27–1·72; 6·6%), smoking (1·35, 1·20–1·53; 6·3%), and being overweight (1·20, 1·08–1·33; 6·2%) were associated with absences due to external causes; obesity (1·82, 1·40–2·36; 11·0%) and smoking (1·60, 1·30–1·98; 10·3%) were associated with absences due to circulatory diseases; low physical activity (1·37, 1·25–1·49; 12·0%) and smoking (1·27, 1·16–1·40; 4·9%) were associated with absences due to respiratory diseases; and obesity (1·67, 1·34–2·07; 9·7%) was associated with absences due to digestive diseases. Interpretation: Lifestyle factors are associated with sickness absence due to several diseases, but observational data cannot determine the nature of these associations. Future studies should investigate the cost-effectiveness of lifestyle interventions aimed at reducing sickness absence and the use of information on lifestyle for identifying groups at risk. Funding: NordForsk, British Medical Research Council, Academy of Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, and Economic and Social Research Council.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468266718302019 |
| spellingShingle | Marianna Virtanen, ProfPhD Jenni Ervasti, PhD Jenny Head, ProfMSc Tuula Oksanen, MD Paula Salo, ProfPhD Jaana Pentti, MSc Anne Kouvonen, ProfPhD Ari Väänänen, ProfPhD Sakari Suominen, ProfMD Markku Koskenvuo, ProfMD Jussi Vahtera, ProfMD Marko Elovainio, ProfPhD Marie Zins, MD Marcel Goldberg, ProfMD Mika Kivimäki, ProfFMedSci Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort study The Lancet Public Health |
| title | Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort study |
| title_full | Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort study |
| title_fullStr | Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort study |
| title_short | Lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work: a multicohort study |
| title_sort | lifestyle factors and risk of sickness absence from work a multicohort study |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468266718302019 |
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