BACKGROUND A low socioeconomic position (SEP) is consistently associated with ill health, sickness absence (SA) and permanent disability, but studies among young employees are lacking. We examined the interrelationships between education, occupational class and income as determinants of SA among 25-34-year-old employees. We also examined, whether the association between SEP and SA varied over t...

BACKGROUND Obesity is associated with an increased risk of work disability, but studies concerning weight change are few. We examined the associations of weight change with subsequent sickness absence. METHODS Weight status data of 4164 (83% women) employees of the City of Helsinki were gathered from the Helsinki Health Study baseline survey in 2000-2002 and follow-up survey in 2007. Data wer...

BACKGROUND Absence from work due to psychosocial health complaints has considerable negative effects for employees, employers and society. A better and more effective strategy would be early identification of employees at risk for psychosocial sickness absence and early intervention to prevent sickness absence as far as possible. AIMS To assess psychometric characteristics and the external va...

We examine whether the availability of subsidized health insurance to the non-working population in Taiwan affected the labor force participation of married women. Our empirical identification exploits the fact that such insurance was first made available to wives of government employees, before being made universally available in Taiwan in 1995. We find that the availability of insurance for n...

BACKGROUND Energy crisis in 1973 led to smaller residential and office buildings with lower air changes. This resulted in development of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). The objective of this study was to assess the association of SBS with individual factors and indoor air pollutants among employees in two office buildings of Petroleum Industry Health Organization in Tehran city. MATERIALS AND M...

The effect of office type on sickness absence among office employees was studied prospectively in 1852 employees working in (1) cell-offices; (2) shared-room offices; (3) small, (4) medium-sized and (5) large open-plan offices; (6) flex-offices and (7) combioffices. Sick leaves were self-reported two years later as number of (a) short and (b) long (medically certified) sick leave spells as well...

OBJECTIVE To study the allocation of rehabilitation measures provided by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution in relation to the characteristics and health status of rehabilitants. DESIGN A register linkage study. SUBJECTS A total of 67,106 full-time local government employees with a minimum of 10-month job contracts in 10 Finnish towns during the period 1994-2002. METHODS Data on the...

The researchers conducted a cross-sectional survey to determine the relationship between handling heavy items during pregnancy and spontaneous abortion among working women in South Korea. One thousand working women were selected from a database of those eligible for maternity benefits under the National Employment Insurance Plan. Study results showed that handling heavy items during pregnancy w...

The aim of this paper is to present Finnish employees' opinions on continuing work until retirement pension and after the age of 63, and to find out if physical workload is related to these opinions. Altogether 39% of men and 40% of women had never had thoughts of early retirement, and 59% claimed (both men and women) that they would consider working beyond the age of 63. Own health (20%); fina...

STUDY OBJECTIVE The assessment of the uptake of colorectal cancer screening offered in a workplace setting. DESIGN Employees were offered a free faecal occult blood test (Haemoccult). A repeat letter was sent two months later to non-responders. Those with positive tests were invited for colonoscopy. Compliance was measured according to age, sex, and occupational group and the effects of reinv...