Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on October 17, 2006
Occupational Medicine 2007 57(1):43-49; doi:10.1093/occmed/kql107
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Health complaints and sickness absence in Norway, 1996–2003
1 Section of Occupational Health and Social Insurance Medicine, Norwegian Back Pain Network, Research Unit, Unifob helse, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
2 Section of Occupational Health and Social Insurance Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
3 Department of Education and Health Promotion, Norwegian Back Pain Network, Research Unit, Unifob helse, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
Background From 1996 to 2003, the total number of sickness absence days increased by 65% in Norway.
Aim To investigate if this could be explained by a corresponding increase in the prevalence of self-reported health complaints in the same period.
Methods Representative samples of the Norwegian working population in 1996 (n = 838) and 2003 (n = 637) answered the subjective health complaints (SHC) questionnaire. The single items of the SHC questionnaire were matched with the corresponding sickness absence statistics from the National Insurance Administration in 1996 and 2003.
Results The main finding was a poor concordance between the change in prevalence of health complaints and the change in the prevalence of sickness absence for diagnoses corresponding to these complaints. The prevalence of health complaints in Norway was high and relatively stable from 1996 to 2003. The only complaints that increased in prevalence during the period were allergy and severe asthma. Sickness absence for health complaints, however, showed a general increase. The diagnoses with the largest percentage increase in sickness absence were sleep problems, tiredness, anxiety and palpitation, although the absolute number of individuals with sickness absence for these complaints was small.
Conclusions The increased sickness absence in Norway from 1996 to 2003 cannot be explained by an increase in health complaints in the general population in the same period. The increase in sickness absence is most likely to be explained by multifactorial causes, such as changes in working life and health expectations.
Keywords Health complaints; Norway; sickness absence
Correspondence to: Camilla Ihlebaek, HALOS Unifob, University of Bergen, Christiesgt 13, 5015 Bergen, Norway. e-mail: camilla.ihlebaek{at}psych.uib.no
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