title: Incidence of long-term sick-listing in an urban area of Sweden and its relationship with demographic data of the population.
abstract: By checking the card indexes of seven out of twelve Social Insurance Offices covering 66% of the total wage-earning population in the city of Göteborg the patients recorded for 90 days of continuous sick-listing were classified into four diagnostic categories according to the doctor's certificate: "non-specific pain" and "specific pain" of the musculoskeletal system, "other pain"  and "non-pain" diagnoses. The overall yearly incidence of 90 days' sick-listing averaged 5.4%. A significant correlation was found between the incidence of 90 days' sick-listing due to "non-pain" and musculoskeletal pain diagnoses and the proportion of demographic characteristics of the areas. The hypothesis of presuming the highest association between non-specific pain diagnoses and demographic factors was rejected.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Göteborg University, Sweden.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lurie
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lindh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sanne
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003710:Demography; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005191:Family Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007223:Infant; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012943:Social Security; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014478:Unemployment