Within-individual analysis of pain and sickness absence among employees from low and high occupational classes: a record linkage study

Abstract

Objectives Pain is linked to an increased risk of sickness absence (SA); however, the extent to which unmeasured time-invariant differences explain this association is yet unknown. Therefore, we determined the within-individual associations between pain and short-term (in the survey year) and long-term (2 years following the survey years) SA risk in high and low occupational classes while controlling for the potential bias due to unobservable time-invariant characteristics. Methods The Helsinki Health Study data consisting of midlife public sector employees with mailed surveys from up to four time points, and SA record linkage were used (3983 persons). The within-individual estimates were..