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Decrease in Work Ability Index and sickness absence during the following year: a two-year follow-up study

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Abstract

Purpose

Using a 2-year follow-up design, we examined whether changes in work ability during 1 year predicted sickness absence in the following year.

Methods

Workers (N = 1408) from the Japanese information technology sector each completed the Work Ability Index (WAI), the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) in 2011 and 2012. Absence data during 2013 was obtained from employees’ computerized attendance records. We used psychological distress as evaluated by the GHQ; job stress and job support calculated using the BJSQ; and job title, sex, and age as potential confounding variables.

Results

Thirty-five employees had at least one sickness absence lasting more than seven consecutive days in 2013. Forty-nine percent of sickness absences were due to mental illness, and the others were due to orthopedic disease (20%), cancer (9%), and other illnesses (23%). Decrease in WAI scores from 2011 to 2012 predicted sickness absence in 2013 (Odds ratio (OR) 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12–1.27). This association remained unaltered after adjusting for sex, age, job title, WAI score from the year before, job stress, job support, and GHQ score (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.06–1.25). We analyzed this association separately by reason for absence: mental or other illness. WAI score decreases predicted sickness absence for both reasons (OR for mental illness 1.24, 95% CI 1.14–1.36; OR for other illnesses 1.14, 95% CI 1.04–1.24).

Conclusions

Decrease in work ability during the year predicts sickness absence in the following year while predictive power was weak.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a UOEH Grant for Advanced Research (2013) to MO. A part of this study was presented at the 21st Asian Conference on Occupational Health held in Fukuoka, September 2014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food and Health Sciences, International College of Arts and Sciences, Fukuoka Women’s University, 1-1-1 Kasumigaoka, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 813-8529, Japan

    Masanori Ohta

  2. Department of Education, Fukuoka University of Education, 1-1 Akamabunkyo-machi, Munakata, Fukuoka, 811-4192, Japan

    Yoshiyuki Higuchi

  3. Association for Preventive Medicine of Japan, 3-19-5 Hakataekimae, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, 812-0011, Japan

    Masaharu Kumashiro

  4. Department of Health Development, Institute of Industrial Ecological Sciences, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, 807-8555, Japan

    Hiroshi Yamato

  5. Kohoku Family Clinic, 5-1-1 Kohoku, Adachi-ku, Tokyo, 123-0872, Japan

    Hisamichi Sugimura

Authors
  1. Masanori Ohta
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  2. Yoshiyuki Higuchi
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  3. Masaharu Kumashiro
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  4. Hiroshi Yamato
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Correspondence to Masanori Ohta.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funding source played no role in study design; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Ohta, M., Higuchi, Y., Kumashiro, M. et al. Decrease in Work Ability Index and sickness absence during the following year: a two-year follow-up study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 90, 883–894 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-017-1251-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-017-1251-x

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