Emotional demands at work and risk of long-term sickness absence among 1.5 million Danish employees

• Published in: European journal of public health Vol. 29; no. Supplement_4
• Main Authors: Framke, E, Sørensen, J K, Madsen, I E H, Rugulies, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.11.2019; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Bias; Confidence intervals; Emotions; Exposure; Illnesses; Leaves of absence; Men; Public health; Quartiles; Regression analysis; Risk; Sick leave; Statistical analysis; Surgeons; Work
• ISSN: 1101-1262; 1464-360X
• DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckz185.079

Abstract Background Emotional demands concern aspects of work requiring an emotional effort of employees and have been associated with risk of depression and long-term sickness absence (LTSA) in previous studies. Associations may, however, partly be affected by reporting bias. Further, previous studies have primarily been conducted using smaller samples in selected job groups or sectors. We, therefore, examined the association between emotional demands and LTSA using a job exposure matrix (JEM) in a nationwide cohort. Methods We included all employed individuals in Denmark who were 30 to 59 years old in 2000. We assessed emotional demands at work with a JEM. JEM values were categorized into quartiles based on the distribution within each year and updated annually from 2000 to 2009. LTSA was register-based, defined as ≥ 6 weeks and assessed until 2015. Individuals with LTSA from 1998 to 2000 were excluded, yielding a sample of 1,521,352 individuals. Exposure in year t was related to outcome in year t + 1 until 2009. We estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) using Cox regression adjusted for age, sex, income and ergonomic job demands. Results During 15,453,980 person-years, we identified 594,858 LTSA cases. In the fully adjusted model, individuals in the highest emotional demands quartile had a HR of 1.30 (95%CI: 1.29-1.31) compared to individuals the lowest quartile Repeating the analysis separately for women and men showed similar results. Conclusions Emotional demands at work were prospectively associated with an increased LTSA risk in this JEM based nationwide cohort study. Key messages This study found that emotional demands at work predict risk of long-term sickness absence. Future studies should focus on factors that may buffer the association between emotional demands at work and long-term sickness absence.