Changes in sickness absenteeism following the introduction of a qualifyingday for sickness benefit - findings from Sweden Post

Aims: In 1993, a qualifying day without sickness benefit was introduced to the Swedish sickness benefit system. The aim of the present Study is to inv estigate sickness absenteeism before and after the introduction of the qual ifying day, in the light of conditions inside and outside working life. Met hods: The study was based on 1.952 female and 2.229 male employees of Swede n Post. Sickness absence was measured by sickness incidence one year before and one year after the introduction of the qualifying day (sick-leave even ts, person days at risk). Information about explanatory factors was collect ed by a postal questionnaire in 1994. Results: A decrease in sickness incid ence was observed after the introduction of the qualifying day as well as a n increase in the mean duration of sick-leave events. The proportion of lon g-term sick-leave events (15-365 days) increased: among men this increase w as also found in absolute terms. There were no suggestions of economy being an important determinant for reduced sickness incidence. Women with long-t erm or serious disease did not show a reduction of sickness incidence to th e same extent as those without disease. and for men a coherent result was o bserved. Men with heavy lifting at work more often showed an increase in in cidence compared to men without heavy lifting, and the same tendency was fo und for women. Conclusion: The reduction in sickness incidence following th e introduction of the qualifying day was fairly independent of different wo rk-related and non-work-related factors. The impact of the qualifying day d iffered depending on health status and the physical workload.