RESEARCH REPORT

Do psychosocial work factors and social relations exert independent effects on sickness absence? A six year prospective study of the GAZEL cohort

M Melchior^1,2, I Niedhammer², L F Berkman¹ and M Goldberg²

¹ Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Health and Social Behavior, Boston, USA
² INSERM, Unit 88, Hôpital National de Saint-Maurice, Saint-Maurice, France

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Maria Melchior, INSERM, Unit 88, Hôpital National de Saint-Maurice, 14 rue du Val d’Osne, F-94415 Saint-Maurice Cedex, France;
mmelchio{at}hsph.harvard.edu

Study objectives: The objective of this prospective cohort study was to determine whether psychosocial work characteristics and social relations exert independent effects on the incidence of sickness absence in a population of middle aged French employees over six years of follow up.

Design: This study included 9631 men and 3595 women participating in the French GAZEL cohort. Social relations (social networks, personal social support, and social relations satisfaction) were measured in 1994 by self report. Psychosocial work characteristics (decision latitude, psychological demands, and social support at work) were ascertained in 1995. Sickness absence data were collected independently. The authors studied the incidence of short (>7 days), intermediate (7–21 days), and long (>21 days) spells of absence from 1995 to 31 December 2001. Rate ratios associated with psychosocial exposures, adjusted on sociodemographic characteristics, and health behaviours, were calculated by means of log-linear Poisson regression.

Setting: A cohort of 20000 employees of France’s national gas and electricity company (the GAZEL study).

Main results: Among men and women, levels of decision latitude and personal social support below the median predicted 17% to 24% increases in absence rates. Low satisfaction with social relations and low social support at work lead to a 10% to 26% excess in sick leaves among men. No interactive effects were found between the variables under study.

Conclusions: The quality of the work environment and of social relations affect sickness absence over an extended period of follow up. This study supports the hypothesis of independent, not interactive effects.

Keywords: sickness absence; psychosocial work factors; decision latitude; social relations; social support; GAZEL cohort; prospective cohort study

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

SOME BY FIRE AND SOME BY THEIR OWN HAND

John R Ashton and Carlos Alvarez-Dardet
J Epidemiol Community Health 2003 57: 233. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Roelen, C. A. M., Weites, S. H., Koopmans, P. C., van der Klink, J. J. L., Groothoff, J. W. (2008). Sickness absence and psychosocial work conditions: a multilevel study. Occup Med (Lond) 58: 425-430 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Laaksonen, M, Martikainen, P, Rahkonen, O, Lahelma, E (2008). Explanations for gender differences in sickness absence: evidence from middle-aged municipal employees from Finland. Occup. Environ. Med. 65: 325-330 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Roelen, C. A. M., Koopmans, P. C., de Graaf, J. H., van Zandbergen, J. W., Groothoff, J. W. (2007). Job demands, health perception and sickness absence. Occup Med (Lond) 57: 499-504 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Goldberg, M., Leclerc, A., Bonenfant, S., Chastang, J. F., Schmaus, A., Kaniewski, N., Zins, M. (2007). Cohort profile: the GAZEL Cohort Study. Int J Epidemiol 36: 32-39 [Full Text]  
• Lindberg, P., Vingard, E., Josephson, M., Alfredsson, L. (2006). Retaining the ability to work--associated factors at work. Eur J Public Health 16: 470-475 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Cunningham, C., Flynn, T., Blake, C. (2006). Low back pain and occupation among Irish health service workers. Occup Med (Lond) 56: 447-454 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Roelen, C. A. M., van der Pol, T. R., Koopmans, P. C., Groothoff, J. W. (2006). Identifying workers at risk of sickness absence by questionnaire. Occup Med (Lond) 56: 442-446 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Von Thiele, U., Lindfors, P., Lundberg, U. (2006). Evaluating different measures of sickness absence with respect to work characteristics. Scand J Public Health 34: 247-253 [Abstract]  
• Lindberg, P, Josephson, M, Alfredsson, L, Vingard, E (2006). Promoting excellent work ability and preventing poor work ability: the same determinants? Results from the Swedish HAKuL study. Occup. Environ. Med. 63: 113-120 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Head, J., Kivimaki, M., Martikainen, P., Vahtera, J., Ferrie, J. E, Marmot, M. G (2006). Influence of change in psychosocial work characteristics on sickness absence: the Whitehall II study. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 60: 55-61 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Melchior, M., Krieger, N., Kawachi, I., Berkman, L. F., Niedhammer, I., Goldberg, M. (2005). Work Factors and Occupational Class Disparities in Sickness Absence: Findings From the GAZEL Cohort Study. Am. J. Public Health 95: 1206-1212 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Vahtera, J, Pentti, J, Kivimaki, M (2004). Sickness absence as a predictor of mortality among male and female employees. J. Epidemiol. Community Health 58: 321-326 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Vahtera, J., Kivimaki, M., Pentti, J., Linna, A., Virtanen, M., Virtanen, P., Ferrie, J. E (2004). Organisational downsizing, sickness absence, and mortality: 10-town prospective cohort study. BMJ 328: 555- [Abstract] [Full Text]