1Department of Community Medicine/University of Tromsø, Norway.
Scand J Public Health. 2013 Nov;41(7):684-91. doi: 10.1177/1403494813491030. Epub 2013 Jun 11.
Sickness absence is of considerable concern in both Norway and Denmark. Labour Force Surveys indicate that absence in Norway is about twice that in Denmark and twice that of the mean reported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This study compares absence patterns according to age, percentage of employment, and occupation between municipal employees in the health and care sectors in two municipalities in Norway and Denmark.
Data recorded in the personnel registers of the municipalities of Kristiansand, Norway and Aarhus, Denmark were extracted for the years 2004 and 2008, revealing 3498 and 7751 employee-years, respectively. We calculated absence rates together with number of sick leave episodes, and their association with the above-mentioned covariates. Gender-specific comparative descriptive statistics and negative binomial regression analysis were performed.
The sickness absence rate in women was 11.3% in Norway (95% confidence interval [CI] 11.2-11.4) and 7.0% in Denmark (95% CI 7.0-7.1) whereas mean number of sick leave episodes among women was 2.4 in Denmark, compared to 2.3 in Norway (p = 0.02). Young employees in Denmark had more sick leave episodes than in Norway. Proportion of absentees was higher in Denmark compared to Norway (p < 0.0001).
The finding of that more employees in Denmark have more frequent, but shorter sick leave episodes compared to Norway, for whatever reasons, may indicate that more frequent sick leaves episodes prevent higher sick leaves rates.
在挪威和丹麦，缺勤都受到了极大的关注。劳动力调查显示，挪威的缺勤率是丹麦的两倍，也是经济合作与发展组织（OECD）报告的平均值的两倍。本研究比较了挪威和丹麦两个城市的卫生和保健部门的市政雇员按年龄、就业比例和职业划分的缺勤模式。
从挪威克里斯蒂安桑市和丹麦奥胡斯市的市政人员登记册中提取了 2004 年和 2008 年的数据，分别记录了 3498 人和 7751 人年。我们计算了缺勤率和病假缺勤次数，以及它们与上述协变量的关系。进行了性别特异性比较描述性统计和负二项回归分析。
挪威女性的缺勤率为 11.3%（95%置信区间[CI] 11.2-11.4），丹麦为 7.0%（95% CI 7.0-7.1），而丹麦女性的平均病假缺勤次数为 2.4 次，而挪威为 2.3 次（p = 0.02）。丹麦的年轻员工请病假的次数比挪威多。与挪威相比，丹麦的缺勤人数比例更高（p < 0.0001）。
无论出于何种原因，丹麦有更多的员工比挪威有更频繁、但更短的病假缺勤，这一发现可能表明更频繁的病假缺勤可以防止更高的病假缺勤率。
