Job Strain and Long-Term Sickness Absence From Work A Ten-Year Prospective Study in German Working Population

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the prospective associations between baseline job strain and 10-year cumulative incidence of long-term sickness absence (LTSA) in the German workforce. Methods: This study used longitudinal data from the 2001 to 2011 waves of The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) (n = 9794). Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to examine the prospective association between job strain and incidence of LTSA. Results: High strain [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.28, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.12 to 1.46] and passive jobs (HR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.01 to 1.30) were significantly associated with LTSA after full adjustment for covariates, with greater risk in the older participants (>45) in passive (HR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.08 to 1.63) and high strain (HR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.27 to 1.92) jobs. Conclusion: Jobs with low control over work were associated with LTSA in German workers. More studies using longitudinal employment data, and more detailed job strain measures are warranted.