title: [Work ability and gender--physicians' assessment of sick-listed patients].
abstract: Medical assessments might be influenced by the patient's gender and work situation. This article explorers the relationship between physicians' assessments of work ability in sick-listed patients, and gender of the sick-listed and the physicians. We conducted a questionnaire survey among 52 primary care physicians and 442 of their sick-listed full-time employed patients in Aust-Agder county. The relationship between physician assessment of the patients' work ability and gender were analysed by full/part-time sick-leave, new/extended sick-leave, patient's workload, and the physician's gender. Multivariate analyses were done in two-level logistic regression models. 60% of sick-listed women were assessed as having "very much" or "much" reduced work ability, against 71% of sick-listed men (p < 0.01). Women received part-time sickness certification more often than men, 27% vs. 11% (p < 0.001). These relationships were only found for extended sick-leaves, and were significant also after adjustment for physician's gender and patient work-load. Male physicians assessed work ability as more reduced among sick-listed men than among sick-listed women. Primary care physicians assessed work ability as less reduced among women than men. Women more often received part-time sickness certification. Possibly, the physicians' gender influenced their assessment of work ability, but this should be confirmed by more studies.
authors.affiliation: Seksjon for trygdemedisin, Universitetet i Oslo.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brage
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Reiso
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D010819:Physician's Role; D010821:Physicians, Family; D010822:Physicians, Women; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D018582:Sick Leave; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation
vernacular_title: Arbeidsevne og kjønn--legers vurderinger av sykmeldte.