title: Associations of work ability with frequent and long-term sickness absence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Reduced work ability is related to long-term sickness absence. The relationship between work ability and frequent sickness absence has not previously been investigated. It is important to distinguish between frequent and long-term sickness absence as they are outcomes of different processes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the associations of work ability with frequent short-term (three or more episodes lasting <2 weeks in the past year), long-term (one or more episodes lasting at least 2 weeks in the past year) and combined (frequent and long-term) sickness absence.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 2010-12, we invited employees working in different economic sectors to complete a postal questionnaire measuring work ability using the work ability index (WAI). We compared the WAI scores in employees with frequent, long-term and combined sickness absence with the scores in employees without such sickness absence by multinomial regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 6682 invited employees, 3660 (55%) completed the questionnaire. Mean (standard deviation) WAI scores were 41.2 (3.4), 39.4 (3.9), 37.2 (5.2) and 43.2 (2.7) in employees with frequent, long-term, combined sickness absence and neither frequent nor long-term sickness absence, respectively. WAI scores were negatively related to frequent (odds ratio [OR] = 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.82-0.88), long-term (OR = 0.79; 95% CI 0.75-0.82) and combined sickness absence (OR = 0.74; 95% CI 0.71-0.77).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-reported reduced work ability is associated with both frequent and long-term sickness absence, suggesting that frequent sickness absence is not only driven by motivational processes.
authors.affiliation: Arboned Occupational Health Service, PO Box 85091, 3508 AB Utrecht, The Netherlands, Department of Health Sciences, Division Community and Occupational Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, PO Box 196, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Notenbomer
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Division Community and Occupational Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, PO Box 196, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Groothoff
authors.affiliation: Arboned Occupational Health Service, PO Box 85091, 3508 AB Utrecht, The Netherlands, Center for Human Resource, Organization and Management Effectiveness, Business University Nyenrode, PO Box 130, 3620 AC Breukelen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van Rhenen
authors.affiliation: Arboned Occupational Health Service, PO Box 85091, 3508 AB Utrecht, The Netherlands, Department of Health Sciences, Division Community and Occupational Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, PO Box 196, 9700 AD Groningen, The Netherlands, corne.roelen@arboned.nl.
authors.forename: C A M
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Roelen
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Absenteeism; multinomial analysis; sick leave; work ability index.