Challenging evidence-based decision-making: a hypothetical case study about return to work.

A hypothetical case study about return to work was used to explore the process of translating research into practice. The method involved constructing a case study derived from the characteristics of a typical, sick-listed employee with non-specific low back pain in Norway. Next, the five-step evidence-based process, including the Patient, Intervention, Co-Interventions and Outcome framework (PICO), was applied to the case study.

Disability pension among Swedish twins--prevalence over 16 years and associations with sociodemographic factors in 1992.

Objective: To investigate annual prevalence of disability pension (DP) from 1992 to 2007 and associations with sociodemographic factors in 1992.

Methods: All twins born between 1928 and 1958 were identified from the Swedish Twin Registry and linked to national records on DP. Descriptive statistics and logistic regressions were applied.

Frequency and severity of problems that general practitioners experience regarding sickness certification.

Objective: Tasks involved in sickness certification constitute potential problems for physicians. The objective in this study was to obtain more detailed knowledge about the problems that general practitioners (GPs) experience in sickness certification cases, specifically regarding reasons for issuing unnecessarily long sick-leave periods.

Design: A cross-sectional national questionnaire study.

Respectful encounters and return to work: empirical study of long-term sick-listed patients' experiences of Swedish healthcare.

Aims To study long-term sick-listed patients' self-estimated ability to return to work after experiences of healthcare encounters that made them feel either respected or wronged. Methods A cross-sectional and questionnaire-based survey was used to study a sample of long-term sick-listed patients (n=5802 respondents). The survey included questions about positive and negative encounters as well as reactions to these encounters, such as 'feeling respected' and 'feeling wronged'.

Health-related risk factors for disability pensions due to musculoskeletal diagnoses: a 30-year Finnish twin cohort study.

Aims: There is a need to better understand work incapacity due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and the factors that contribute to being granted disability pension (DP) with such disorders. A twin cohort study would serve a powerful tool responding to this knowledge gap by providing information on factors affecting DP when controlling for family background. The purpose was to investigate the incidence of and risk factors for DP due to any MSD (n=1,819) and specifically due to osteoarthritis (OA, n=677) in a twin cohort of 24,043 people over a 30-year follow-up.

Stability and change in health behaviours as predictors for disability pension: a prospective cohort study of Swedish twins.

Background: Stability or changes of health behaviours have not been studied in association with incidence of disability pension (DP). The aims were to (1) investigate if stability or changes in health behaviours predict DP due to musculoskeletal diagnosis (MSD), (2) to evaluate if an association exists for DP in general, and (3) after taking familial confounding into account.

Methods: The study sample was 16,713 like-sexed twin individuals born in Sweden between 1935-1958 (6195 complete twin pairs) who had participated in two surveys 25 years apart, were alive, and not pensioned at the time of the latest survey.

Genetic liability to disability pension in women and men: a prospective population-based twin study.

Background: Previous studies of risk factors for disability pension (DP) have mainly focused on psychosocial, or environmental, factors, while the relative importance of genetic effects has been less studied. Sex differences in biological mechanisms have not been investigated at all.

Methods: The study sample included 46,454 Swedish twins, consisting of 23,227 complete twin pairs, born 1928-1958, who were followed during 1993-2008.

Health-related and sociodemographic risk factors for disability pension due to low back disorders: a 30-year prospective Finnish Twin Cohort Study.

Objectives: To investigate health-related and sociodemographic risk factors for disability pensions (DP) due to low back disorders (LBD).

Methods: Questionnaire data in 1975 of the Finnish Twin Cohort Study with record linkage to information on DP due to LBD from the official pension registers during follow-up 1975 to 2004 was analyzed with Cox proportional hazard models.

Results: Musculoskeletal pain (Hazards Ratio [HR] = 2.

Physicians' messages in problematic sickness certification: a narrative analysis of case reports.

Background: Many physicians find sickness certification tasks problematic. There is some knowledge about situations that are experienced as problematic, whereas less is understood about how physicians respond to the problems they face. One way to acquire such knowledge is to consider "reflection-in-action", aspects of which are expressed in the physician's interpretation of the patient's story.

Return to work after breast cancer: women's experiences of encounters with different stakeholders.

Objective: Long-term sickness absence is common among women with breast cancer and more knowledge, from the individuals' perspective, is needed regarding factors that influence their return to work (RTW). The aim was to gain knowledge about women's experiences of encounters regarding RTW after breast cancer surgery.

Methods: Qualitative content analysis was applied to data obtained in four focus group interviews with 23 women treated for breast cancer regarding aspects of RTW.

Disability, sickness, and unemployment benefits among long-term sickness absentees five years before, during, and after a multidisciplinary medical assessment.

Aim: The aim was to describe how a multidisciplinary medical assessment changed the distribution of long-term sickness absentees between three different forms of social security support during a period of eleven years.

Methods: The study group (n = 1002) consisted of persons on long-term sickness absence who were referred to a multidisciplinary medical assessment by the Social Insurance Office in Stockholm, Sweden between 1998 and 2007. Register data from the years 1993-2008 were linked to the study group.

The attribution of work environment in explaining gender differences in long-term sickness absence: results from the prospective DREAM study.

Objectives: To identify differences in risk of long-term sickness absence between female and male employees in Denmark and to examine to what extent differences could be explained by work environment factors.

Methods: A cohort of 5026 employees (49.1% women, mean age 40.

Work-related psychosocial events as triggers of sick leave--results from a Swedish case-crossover study.

Background: Although illness is an important cause of sick leave, it has also been suggested that non-medical risk factors may influence this association. If such factors impact on the period of decision making, they should be considered as triggers. Yet, there is no empirical support available.

Future risk for disability pension among people with sickness absence due to otoaudiological diagnoses: a population-based cohort study with a 12-year follow-up.

Unlabelled: Hearing difficulties is a growing public health problem and more knowledge of consequences of those difficulties in working life is warranted.

Aims: To study the future risk of being granted a disability pension (DP) among people with sickness absence with an otoaudiological diagnoses (OAD) compared to other sickness absentees.

Methods: A population-based prospective cohort study of all 40,786 people in a Swedish county who in 1985 were aged 16-64 and had a new sick-leave spell >7 days.

How physicians have learned to handle sickness-certification cases.

Background: Sickness absence is a common ''prescription'' in health care in many Western countries. Despite the significance of sick-listing for the life situation of patients, physicians have limited training in how to handle sickness-certification cases and the research about sickness-certification practices is scarce.

Aim: Gain knowledge on physicians' learning regarding management of sickness certification of patients in formal, informal, and non-formal learning situations, respectively, and possible changes in this from 2004 to 2008.

Differences in the association between sickness absence and long-term sub-optimal health by occupational position: a 14-year follow-up in the GAZEL cohort.

Objectives: Although sickness absence is a strong predictor of health, whether this association varies by occupational position has rarely been examined. The aim of this study was to investigate overall and diagnosis-specific sickness absence as a predictor of future long-term sub-optimal health by occupational position.

Methods: This was a prospective occupational cohort study of 15 320 employees (73% men) aged 37-51.

Work situation and sickness absence in the initial period after breast cancer surgery.

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in women, many of whom are of working age, and the five-year survival rate in Sweden is approaching 90%. Accordingly, aspects of working life and sickness absence are of increasing importance for breast cancer survivors and may have a long-term impact on health and quality of life of these women. The aim was to elucidate the work situation and sickness absence during the initial period after breast cancer surgery and to explore factors associated with sickness absence.

Are self-report of disability pension and long-term sickness absence accurate? Comparisons of self-reported interview data with national register data in a Swedish twin cohort.

Background: Self-reported disability pension (DP) and sickness absence are commonly used in epidemiological and other studies as a measure of exposure or even as an outcome. The aims were (1) to compare such self-reports with national register information in order to evaluate the validity of self-reported DP and sickness absence, and (2) to estimate the concordance of reporting behaviour in different twin zygosity groups, also by sex.

Methods: All Swedish twins born 1933-1958 who participated in the Screening Across the Lifespan Twin study (SALT) 1998-2003, were included (31,122 individuals).

Sickness-certification practice in different clinical settings; a survey of all physicians in a country.

Background: How physicians handle sickness-certification is essential in the sickness-absence process. Few studies have focused this task of physicians' daily work. Most previous studies have only included general practitioners.

Sickness absence, social relations, and self-esteem: a qualitative study of the importance of relationships with family, workmates, and friends among persons initially long-term sickness absent due to back diagnoses.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to explore and analyze accounts of social interactions and relationships with family, workmates, and friends supplied by persons with experience of sickness absence due to back, neck, or shoulder diagnoses. The focus was on experiences that seemed to involve positive and negative self-evaluative aspects, and therefore may be important to the self-conception and self-esteem of the absentee, and possibly to return to work.

Participants: The interviewees were women and men between 25 to 34 years of age who had been sickness certified due to back, neck, or shoulder diagnosis.

Health-selection mechanisms in the pathway towards a disability pension.

Unlabelled: Studies emphasizing the disability pension (DP) process are rare.

Objective: To identify similarities and differences in work and health between persons who, prior to DP changed jobs due to health-reasons (health-selectors) to other disability pensioners.

Participants: a retrospective cohort study was performed on a random sample of all individuals in three counties of Sweden who, in 1998, were under the age of 65 and had been granted DP.

Managers' perceptions of the manager role in relation to physicians: a qualitative interview study of the top managers in Swedish healthcare.

Background: This study focused on the manager role in the manager-physician relationship, considered from the manager perspective. The aim was to understand how top executives in Swedish healthcare regard management of physicians in their organisations, and what this implies for the manager role in relation to the medical profession. Abbott's theory of professional jurisdiction was used to inform thinking about managerial control and legitimacy in relation to physicians.

Does sickness absence due to psychiatric disorder predict cause-specific mortality? A 16-year follow-up of the GAZEL occupational cohort study.

Mental disorders are a frequent cause of morbidity and sickness absence in working populations; however, the status of psychiatric sickness absence as a predictor of mortality is not established. The authors tested the hypothesis that psychiatric sickness absence predicts mortality from leading medical causes. Data were derived from the French GAZEL cohort study (n = 19,962).

Methods for analysing individual changes in sick-leave diagnoses over time.

Unlabelled: Several methodological challenges arise when attempting to analyse individual data on changes of sick-leave diagnoses over several years. Sick-leave spells for a person can recur, have different sick-leave diagnoses, and both these aspects are dependent of previous episodes, the numbers of repeated periods vary across subjects, and standard statistical methods are not valid for variables on nominal scales, e.g.