POPULATION-BASED CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF SICK LEAVE IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN BEFORE DIAGNOSIS OF HYPERPARATHYROIDISM

Objective: To analyse sick leave in women at risk of primary hyperpara thyroidism before its diagnosis. Design: Case-control study nested wit hin a screened cohort of postmenopausal women. Cases were women with h yperparathyroidism without prior knowledge of their disease and no tra ditional symptoms or complications. Controls were women from the scree ned population without hyperparathyroidism. Setting Population based s creening within a Swedish community. Subject: 48 case-control pairs of women aged 55-70 years. Main outcome measure: Sick leave during the 5 years before diagnosis. Results: Total duration of sickness benefits was longer in the cases than controls, and this discrepancy included s ick leave on full time or half time and for periods of longer than a w eek Cases had an increased risk of sick leave more than half of the in vestigated time compared with controls (odds ratio 12). Doctors' certi ficates showed that the overrepresented sick leave in the cases relate d mainly to cardiovascular diseases. Conclusion: Asymptomatic mild pri mary hyperparathyroidism in postmenopausal women is accompanied by a p reviously unrecognised morbidity, which has consequences for clinical management of the disorder and its impact on the health economy.