Sickness absence among women and men in the police: a systematic literature review.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to carry out a systematic literature review of all scientific studies on sickness absence among women and men in the police in order to obtain a knowledge base for the introduction of relevant preventive actions against the high sick-leave rates among police women in Sweden.


METHODS
Publications with data on sickness absence in the police published in peer-reviewed scientific journals in English, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish were systematically searched for in literature databases and reference lists. Identified publications were assessed for relevance. A set procedure was used to extract information from each study included.


RESULTS
The majority of the 21 included articles were from the USA or Europe. Most studies were published from 1990 and onwards. Sick-leave measures used in the different studies varied considerably. Four studies presented overall data on sickness absence by gender: three found higher rates among female officers than among male officers, and one found similar rates. Results also varied for more specific aspects.


CONCLUSIONS
The research on sickness absence in the police is very scarce, especially concerning gender differences. The sick-leave measures used were too inconsistent or vaguely described to allow comparisons between studies. There was a tendency for higher sickness absence among women police; however, there is an obvious need for more studies in this area.
Körlin
Jenny
J
Section of Personal Injury Prevention, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Alexanderson
Kristina
K
Svedberg
Pia
P
D000041:Absenteeism; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000453:epidemiology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D016272:Occupational Health; D010415:Pensions; D016495:Police; D012737:Sex Factors; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014931:Women, Working / Q000523:psychology