ArticleBMJ open2018
Evaluating sickness absence duration by musculoskeletal and mental health issues: a retrospective cohort study of Scottish healthcare workers.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sustainable Return to Work: A Systematic Review Focusing on Personal and Social Factors.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2019Pooled it
- Trial
- Peer Support Systems, Psychosocial Support and Employer Attractiveness Among Healthcare Workers: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study in Germany.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Sickness Absence Duration Across Twenty Different Pathologies: A Systematic Review.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2026Review
- Variation in mental health-related sickness absence duration: The role of occupational health professionals.PloS one · 2026Article
- Symptoms of Psychological Stress and Sickness Absence Among Healthcare Workers During a Persistent Crisis.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2025Observational
- A Work Systems Hierarchy of Controls: Analysis of Risk Controls Developed by Paramedics.American journal of industrial medicine · 2025Article
- Absenteeism Among Healthcare Workers: Job Grade and Other Factors That Matter in Sickness Absence.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Psychosocial well-being index and sick leave in the workplace: a structural equation modeling of Wittyfit data.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Health Workers' Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Resilience During COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2024Article
- Article
- A participatory ergonomics intervention to re-design work and improve the musculoskeletal health of paramedics: protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2023Article
- Sickness absence around contact with outpatient mental health care services - differences between migrants and non-migrants: a Norwegian register study.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Developing and testing a case-management intervention to support the return to work of health care workers with common mental health disorders.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Vocational Rehabilitation and Length of Stay at Work after Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Longitudinal Study in Brazil.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Responsivity and relation to depressive symptoms of occupational behavior and experience patterns.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Association between work content and musculoskeletal disorders among home caregivers: a cross-section study.Industrial health · 2022Article
- Impact of hypothetical improvements in the psychosocial work environment on sickness absence rates: a simulation study.European journal of public health · 2022Article
- Enhancing the health of NHS staff: eTHOS - protocol for a randomised controlled pilot trial of an employee health screening clinic for NHS staff to reduce absenteeism and presenteeism, compared with usual care.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2022Article
- Delivering NICE Joint Pain Advice in the workplace.Musculoskeletal care · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesSickness absence (SA) among healthcare workers is associated with occupational and non-occupational risk factors and impacts employee health, healthcare delivery and patient health. At the same time, healthcare is one of the employment sectors with the highest rates of work-related ill health in the UK. Musculoskeletal (MSK) and mental health (MH) issues are leading causes of SA, but there is a lack of research on how certain MSK/MH conditions impact on SA duration. The study aim is to determine differences in SA duration by MH and MSK disorders in healthcare employees.
methodsSurvival analyses were used to estimate SA duration due to MSK and MH problems over 6 years, and Cox's proportional hazards models to determine the HRs of returning to work, using a bespoke Scottish health board database with over 53 000 SA events. SA duration and time to return-to-work (RTW) were estimated for employees by age, gender, job and health conditions.
resultsMSK and MH conditions accounted for 27% and 6% of all SA events and 23.7% and 19.5% of all days lost, respectively. Average SA duration was 43.5 days for MSK and 53.9 days for MH conditions. For MSK conditions, employees with low back or neck pain had the fastest RTW (median P
conclusionsUsing a unique and rich database, we found significant differences in SA duration by presenting condition in healthcare workers. MH conditions, and depression specifically, accounted for the most working days' absence. Significant variations in duration were also observed for MSK conditions. Our findings can inform public health practitioners and healthcare managers of the most significant factors impacting MSK-related and MH-related SA to develop and implement tailored and targeted workplace interventions.
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