title: Association between adjustment latitude and sickness presence - A panel study of Swedish employees.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study is analyzing the unexpected reversed or lacking association between high adjustment latitude and sickness presence by examining whether it is due to confounding.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaires were sent in 2004 and 2005 to a cohort of individuals aged 25-50 years, selected from the Statistics Sweden's register of the Swedish population. Information from 2397 individuals who answered both questionnaires was analyzed by the use of logistic regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The odds ratio for sickness presence among the individuals with a low adjustment latitude compared to those with high adjustment latitude was 1.7 (range: 1.4-2.2). This increased likelihood was almost entirely unaffected in the analysis of potential confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  If the reversed association between adjustment latitude and sickness presence does not reflect confounding, it may be due to reporting bias, which may cause problems in research on sickness presence. We argue that more detailed studies are needed to explore the different sources of possible reporting problems.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden (Institute of Environmental Medicine, Unit of Occupational Medicine). gun.johansson@ki.se.
authors.forename: Gun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden (Insurance Medicine, Department of Clinical Neuroscience).
authors.forename: Klas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden (Insurance Medicine, Department of Clinical Neuroscience).
authors.forename: Staffan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marklund
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D000069597:Presenteeism / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D017132:Workplace
keywords: Sweden; bias; questionnaires; sickness behaviour; work place