Do different job demands interact as predictors of long-term sickness absence? A register-based follow-up on 55 467 Danish workers

Abstract

Objectives: To assess interactions between combinations of quantitative demands, emotional demands, unclear and contradictory demands, and violence/threats of violence in the prospective association with risk of long-term sickness absence (LTSA).

Methods: We included 55 467 employees from the 2012, 2014 and 2016 waves of the Work Environment and Health in Denmark (WEHD) survey. We measured the four independent variables in the WEHD survey and assessed risk of LTSA in a national register during 12 months of follow-up. Using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for age, sex, educational attainment and job group, we estimated risk of LTSA and assessed deviation from additivity using relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI).

Results: For combinations of high emotional demands and high quantitative demands (HR 1.50; 95% CI 1.33 to 1.70; RERI 0.06; 95% CI -0.15 o 0.26) and high emotional demands and violence/threats of violence (HR 1.76; 95% CI 1.53 to 2.02; RERI 0.12; 95% CI -0.43 to 0.66) we found no indications of deviations from additive effects in predicting LTSA. For combinations of violence/threats of violence and high quantitative demands (HR 1.90; 95% CI 1.64 to 2.20; RERI 0.36; 95% CI 0.01 to 0.71) and unclear and contradictory demands and high quantitative demands (HR 1.46; 95% CI 1.31 to 1.62; RERI 0.23; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.42) the results indicated an excess risk of LTSA above additivity (ie, superadditivity).

Conclusions: Participants reporting high quantitative demands combined with either violence/threats of violence or unclear and contradictory demands showed a higher risk of LTSA than expected, indicating superadditivity. Results have implications for preventing negative health effects related to adverse psychosocial working conditions.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Longitudinal studies; Occupational Health; Occupational Stress; Sick Leave.