ArticleBMC public health2026
The association between pain and diagnosis-specific long-term sickness absence at different levels of body mass index - a register-linked cohort study.
Article in BMC public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChronic (≥ 3 months) pain and obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m2) are both associated with long-term sickness absence (LTSA). This study aimed to examine the contribution of acute (< 3 months) and chronic pain to total and diagnosis-specific LTSA (> 10 working days) at different levels of BMI among young and early midlife employees.
methodsHelsinki Health Study questionnaire data covering 19–39-year-old employees were collected in 2017 (n = 4091). Pain was classified as no pain, acute pain, or chronic pain. BMI was classified as healthy weight (BMI 18.5–24.9 kg/m2), overweight (BMI 25.0–29.9 kg/m2), or obesity. Diagnosis-specific follow-up data on LTSA covering 5 years after the survey collection were obtained from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland’s registers. Negative binomial regression analyses were conducted, adjusting for key covariates.
resultsAcute (RR 1.57, 95% CI 1.19 − 2.08) and chronic (RR 2.05, 95% CI 1.52 − 2.75) pain, and overweight (RR 1.42, 95% CI 1.09 − 1.85) and obesity (RR 2.20, 95% CI 1.58 − 3.05) were all associated with LTSA after adjusting for age and gender. The strongest association with LTSA was found for coexistent chronic pain and obesity (RR 3.49, 95% CI 1.89 − 6.43). Adjusting further for other sociodemographic, lifestyle and work-related factors marginally attenuated the associations. Having coexistent acute pain and a healthy weight or having no pain and overweight were not associated with LTSA.
conclusionsEmployees with coexistent pain and overweight/obesity have an increased risk of LTSA, particularly employees with coexistent chronic pain and obesity. These employees could benefit from targeted primary and secondary preventive measures at the workplaces and in occupational healthcare to reduce LTSA.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.