The associations between workplace bullying, salivary cortisol, and long-term sickness absence: a longitudinal study

Table 4 Total, direct, and indirect effects of bullying on long-term sickness absence when including morning cortisol, evening cortisol, and morning-to-evening slope as potential mediators

	Mediator: Morning cortisol		Mediator: Evening cortisol		Mediator: Morning-to-evening slope
	OR^a	95% CI	OR^a	95% CI	OR^a	95% CI
Bullying
Total effect^b	1.85	1.47–2.33	1.85	1.47–2.33	1.85	1.47–2.33
Direct effect^c	1.85	1.47–2.33	1.84	1.46–2.33	1.85	1.47–2.34
Indirect effect^d	1.00	0.99–1.01	1.00	0.99–1.01	1.00	0.99–1.01
Mediated proportion^e	0%	−1.5-1.4%	0%	−1.6-2.6%	0%	−1.9-1.6%

^aAdjusted for gender, age, smoking, physical activity, alcohol consumption, body mass index, education, shift-work, awakening time, sampling time, round, and cohort. All measured at baseline
^bOdds ratio of long-term sickness absence for bullied compared to non-bullied participants
^cAssociation between bullying and sickness absence not mediated by cortisol levels
^dAssociation between bullying and sickness absence mediated by cortisol levels
^eProportion of total effect that is mediated by cortisol levels

ISSN: 1471-2458