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Sickness Presenteeism Among Swedish Police Officers

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Abstract

Introduction The aim was to describe the prevalence of sickness presenteeism (SP) and to explore possible associations with work characteristics among Swedish police officers. Methods Questionnaire data from 11,793 police officers were analysed. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for SP were calculated with modified Poisson regression. SP was defined as having gone to work on two or more occasions during the past 12 months despite judging that one’s health would have motivated sickness absence. Results Of the police officers, 47% reported SP. All studied work environment factors were significantly associated with SP. The strongest association was found for stress (RR = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.41–1.52). Low support from colleagues and low control had higher impact on the risk estimates for SP among older subjects. Adjustment for self-rated health lowered the RRs, however, estimates remained statistically significant. The results indicated that SP was most affected by work environment among subjects with good self-rated health. Conclusions SP was high among police officers. Work environment factors seem to be associated with SP, particularly among subjects with good general health.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research and the National Police Board. All authors are independent from their funders.

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare that the answer to the questions on your competing interest form are all No and therefore have nothing to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stress Research Institute, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Constanze Leineweber, Hugo Westerlund & Marita Luokkala

  2. Division of Insurance Medicine, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Hugo Westerlund, Jan Hagberg, Pia Svedberg & Kristina Alexanderson

Authors
  1. Constanze Leineweber
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  2. Hugo Westerlund
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  3. Jan Hagberg
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  4. Pia Svedberg
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  5. Marita Luokkala
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  6. Kristina Alexanderson
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Correspondence to Constanze Leineweber.

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Leineweber, C., Westerlund, H., Hagberg, J. et al. Sickness Presenteeism Among Swedish Police Officers. J Occup Rehabil 21, 17–22 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-010-9249-1

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