Associations Between Workload and Diseases Rarely Occurring in Sickness Absence Data

This study provides rate ratios for sickness absence in relation to workload, which was accessed by means of a job exposure matrix. Emphasis is given to diseases that are seldom studied by sickness absence data either because the incidence is low or because medical treatment is not supplemented by r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 2001-12, Vol.43 (12), p.1081-1088
Main Author: Boedeker, Wolfgang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absenteeism
Accidents, Occupational - statistics & numerical data
Biological and medical sciences
Commerce
Data Collection
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Illnesses
Medical sciences
Metallurgy
Miscellaneous
Motivation. Job satisfaction. Attitude
Occupational Diseases - epidemiology
Occupational health
Occupational medicine
Occupational psychology
Population Surveillance
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Sick Leave - statistics & numerical data
United States - epidemiology
Work environment
Workload - psychology
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Summary:This study provides rate ratios for sickness absence in relation to workload, which was accessed by means of a job exposure matrix. Emphasis is given to diseases that are seldom studied by sickness absence data either because the incidence is low or because medical treatment is not supplemented by rest from work. A total of 42,508 employees from the metal processing and retail trade were followed for 3 years. Sick leave related to hypertension, ischémie heart diseases, ulcer, neurotic disorders, or work accidents was most frequent in employees exposed to physical demands and low control. In contrast, an inverse relation was observed for psychological demands, for which rate ratios decreased with increasing exposure. This finding might be an expression of work commitment or pressure to attend rather than of coping behavior, because both hard and soft diagnoses were considered.
ISSN:1076-2752
1536-5948
DOI:10.1097/00043764-200112000-00010