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Table 2 Sickness absence characteristics among the total sample. By age, gender, general health and occupational group

From: Socioeconomic status and duration and pattern of sickness absence. A 1-year follow-up study of 2331 hospital employees

 

Total

Any absence

Any short

spells

(1-3 days)

Any medium

spells

(4-14 days)

Any long

spells

(>14 days)

"Normal"

absence

pattern1)

"Abnormal"

absence

pattern1)

Days at

risk of a

new absence

spell2)

Number of

absence spells

per person-year

at risk

Number of

absence days

in percent of

all working days2). Group total

 

N

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

mean (SD)

median

%

Age

          

18-29

235

191 (81)

175 (74)

106 (45)

22 (9)

76 (32 )

115 (49)

173 (64)

4.00

7.3

30-39

628

512 (82)

469 (75)

299 (48)

41 (7)

246 (39)

266 (42)

182 (62)

3.14

5.6

40-49

715

596 (83)

527 (73)

318 (44)

69 (10)

306 (43)

290 (41)

193 (55)

3.07

6.3

50-69

753

590 (78)

522 (69)

311 (41)

77 (10)

342 (45)

248 (33)

200 (47)

2.05

6.0

Gender

          

Women

1954

1610 (82)

1443 (74)

884 (45)

190 (10)

814 (42)

796 (41)

190 (55)

3.07

6.4

Men

377

279 (74)

250 (66)

150 (40)

19 (5)

156 (41)

123 (33)

189 (61)

2.06

4.7

General

health

          

Fair or

poor

121

106 (88)

97 (80)

69 (57)

24 (10)

38 (31)

68 (56)

178 (64)

5.11

11.3

Good, very

good or

excellent

2177

1757 (81)

1573 (72)

949 (44)

178 (8)

920 (42)

836 (38)

191 (55)

3.03

5.8

Occupational

group 1)

          

Doctors

258

159 (62)

149 (58)

40 (16)

9 (3)

119 (46)

40 (16)

168 (71)

1.06

2.4

Physiotherapists

294

216 (73)

207 (70)

90 (31)

21 (7)

117 (49)

99 (34)

198 (52)

2.06

4.7

Nurses

710

594 (84)

538 (76)

305 (43)

62 (9)

310 (44)

284 (40)

191 (55)

3.07

5.7

Medical

secretaries

328

269 (82)

248 (76)

149 (45)

23 (7)

137 (42)

132 (40)

191 (56)

3.01

5.4

Nursing

assistants

491

437 (89)

386 (79)

290 (59)

71 (14)

190 (39)

247 (50)

191 (52)

4.05

9.0

Cleaners/

porters

250

214 (86)

165 (66)

160 (64)

23 (9)

97 (39)

117 (47)

197 (50)

3.05

7.2

Total

2331

1889 (81)

1693 (73)

1034 (44)

209 (9)

970 (42)

919 (39)

190 (56)

3.04

6.1

  1. 1) See table 1
  2. 2) Maximum 227 working days in one year.